15 minutes with Kansas State University graduate Sydney Garrett

For Sydney Garrett, the path to a four-year degree began at Des Moines Area Community College in Des Moines, Iowa, as a Mark Pearson FFA Leadership scholar. Raised on a cow-calf operation in Osceola, Iowa, Garrett knew her career would be connected to agriculture, especially animal agriculture. While she always thought she would transfer to an in-state university to complete a bachelor’s degree, a community of mentors would cause Garrett to reassess her plan.

“They advised me to think about what I really wanted to study, which was videography, and encouraged me to consider out-of-state options as well,” Garrett says.

That exploration led her to Kansas State University, where Garrett is majoring in agricultural communications and journalism with a minor in animal science.

“As soon as I visited the campus, I knew it was where I wanted to go,” she says. “Everyone at Umberger Hall, which is home to the communications and ag education departments, was so warm and welcoming. It’s also not a huge department, which I loved.”

SF: What activities or clubs have you been involved with at Kansas State?

SG: There are three: Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, Sigma Alpha, and the Advancement Team. While I’ve enjoyed them all, the one that has been most influential is the Advancement Team within the communications and journalism program, also known as the A Team. I like to equate it to student council whenever people ask me what it is. There are four of us who get together and discuss different ways to promote and increase involvement within our program. Each semester, members are asked to give a presentation at a highschool. This past October, I went back to my hometown and taught students how to use Canva, an online graphic design tool, to create a flyer. I also talked about my life at K-State.

SF: You’ve had 11 internships during your four years of college. How did you decide on the ones you chose?

SG: As an agricultural communications and journalism major, I felt it was important to be well-rounded, so I was very purposeful in applying for internships. When I worked at the Iowa Turkey Federation, I wanted to learn more about social media and event planning. When I interned with Growmark, I wanted to understand how a corporate communications office ran. For my stock show internships, I wanted to gain more connections in an industry I’m passionate about: beef.

SF: Tell me about an internship that resonated with you.

SG: I learned something from all my internships, but the one that has been my favorite is the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State. Everything I did was beef health based, which I never thought I would do, but I really enjoyed. It was fun taking the research and turning it into a product that helps producers. For example, I worked with Dr. Brad White andDr. Brian Lubbers to create handouts on anaplasmosis.

I also worked on a new podcast series called “Bovine Science” with BCI. This internship allowed me to grow so much. The BCI team treated me like a communications professional nota student and asked for and took my advice.

SF: If you could talk to an incoming freshman, what would you tell them?

SG: I would tell them to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Talk to a person you admire and ask them for advice about whether going out of state for college is a good fit. Or sign up for that photography course, even though you don’t know anything about a camera. Invest in your future now, because the more you do, the better off you’ll be in the long run.

This article originally appeared in the Successful Farming College Edition in Summer 2023.