This week I decided to stray from the tradition of writing on Monday for a couple reasons. 1) Next Monday I will be HOME (as in Central Iowa home) for a whole week! Don't ask me how I managed it but I'm very excited to be able to be back just in time for County Fair. 2) I haven't written in awhile and a lot has happened the past 10 days so it's time to share.
Last Friday our office was invited to attend a National Hot Dog Day luncheon put on by one of the meat federations in DC. It was held in the courtyard of one of the House Buildigs and included about 10 different types of hot dogs (and corn dogs) from the major meat companies in the US (Hormel, Tyson, Smithfield, etc.) They also had 3 retired professional MLB players there to sign autographs. I got mine signed by Andy Van Syke who played for the Pirates and Jack Clark who played for the Cardinals. Even though it was on the hottest day of the year, it was still a really neat event to be a part of. My favorite part was making fun of the PETA protestors outside the event who were handing out vegan hotdogs with models in Lettuce bikinis. Their parents must be so proud.
On Tuesday I attended a Lunch n Learn for Ag interns in DC held at the American Feed Industry Association office in Arlington, VA. My roommate Tayler is their intern for the summer and she put the event on with the Animal Ag Alliance interns. For those unfamiliar with these two organizations, AFIA is the voice for the American Feed Industry and Pet Food Industry for government policy-making. They work on all the regulations the feed companies have to abide by. Animal Ag Alliance is more of a Call to Action group. They make sure the Livestock Industry knows what is being said from animal rights activists and provide tools to help the livestock industry be proactive in the fight with the extremists. As an animal science student and self-proclaimed Agvocate, I felt like I was at Disneyworld getting to talk about animal nutrition and how to be a strong Agvocate on social media. Good job Tay you rocked it!
On Thursday, I networked with even more Ag kids! I met up with a fellow Sigma Alpha sister and another sisterhood alumn for lunch. They are both graduates of Michigan State who work for Western Skies Strategies. I had never heard of their company before but basically they are the voice of the Western livestock and grain producers in DC. I had met this sister before at the #AgChat Collegiate Conference in Indianapolis a year and a half ago, so it was nice to catch up with her (always be networking folks! Never know when you'll meet them again!) It was very refreshing to have some time to talk to other Sigma Alpha girls and learn more about their experiences in the Capital.
On Tuesday, one of the most exciting events of my summer took place: MY BEST FRIEND KIRSTEN CAME TO DC. Kirsten is originally from Minnesota where her dad is a very active member of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. The National Corn Growers had a conference in DC this week so Kirsten got to tag along to spend some time with me. How did I meet a Minnesota Corn legacy you may ask? Well, she did her freshman year at Iowa State and I was the weird girl who went up to her on the second day of class and invited myself to go have lunch with her. That act led to her being my roommate for half of freshman year and after 3 years she's still one of my best friends. Anyways back to this week, Kirsten and her family were gracious enough to invite me to dinner with them and fellow MCGA members not one night, but three! Kirsten's dad made sure I was well fed and got introduced to ALL the members we went to diner with. I learned A LOT about grain legislation in 3 short days and am vey gracious for their hospitality and not giving me too much crap about being a hog girl from Iowa. I even got to meet one of the MCGA members who had recently been elected to serve on the National Corn Growers Board! I was surrounded by Minnesota Corn Celeb status it seemed like! (Be sure to check out the YouTube video on my page about Minnesota Corn starring Kirsten's dad, Les) Aside from all the corny talk, I also took off some time from work to show Kirsten the sites of DC! We walked A LOT and I impressed her with all my DC fun facts (that I had memorized from taking a bus tour two weeks prior so that I could try to impress Kirsten and make her think I knew everything about DC). Iowa Corn will always be #1 but Minnesota Corn is a close 2nd (and I decided to not make fun of their accents too much since they were paying for 3 of my meals but there were definitely some hard 'Os') Kirsten visiting couldn't have come at a better time and made the week before going home just fly by!
Last Friday our office was invited to attend a National Hot Dog Day luncheon put on by one of the meat federations in DC. It was held in the courtyard of one of the House Buildigs and included about 10 different types of hot dogs (and corn dogs) from the major meat companies in the US (Hormel, Tyson, Smithfield, etc.) They also had 3 retired professional MLB players there to sign autographs. I got mine signed by Andy Van Syke who played for the Pirates and Jack Clark who played for the Cardinals. Even though it was on the hottest day of the year, it was still a really neat event to be a part of. My favorite part was making fun of the PETA protestors outside the event who were handing out vegan hotdogs with models in Lettuce bikinis. Their parents must be so proud.
On Tuesday I attended a Lunch n Learn for Ag interns in DC held at the American Feed Industry Association office in Arlington, VA. My roommate Tayler is their intern for the summer and she put the event on with the Animal Ag Alliance interns. For those unfamiliar with these two organizations, AFIA is the voice for the American Feed Industry and Pet Food Industry for government policy-making. They work on all the regulations the feed companies have to abide by. Animal Ag Alliance is more of a Call to Action group. They make sure the Livestock Industry knows what is being said from animal rights activists and provide tools to help the livestock industry be proactive in the fight with the extremists. As an animal science student and self-proclaimed Agvocate, I felt like I was at Disneyworld getting to talk about animal nutrition and how to be a strong Agvocate on social media. Good job Tay you rocked it!
On Thursday, I networked with even more Ag kids! I met up with a fellow Sigma Alpha sister and another sisterhood alumn for lunch. They are both graduates of Michigan State who work for Western Skies Strategies. I had never heard of their company before but basically they are the voice of the Western livestock and grain producers in DC. I had met this sister before at the #AgChat Collegiate Conference in Indianapolis a year and a half ago, so it was nice to catch up with her (always be networking folks! Never know when you'll meet them again!) It was very refreshing to have some time to talk to other Sigma Alpha girls and learn more about their experiences in the Capital.
On Tuesday, one of the most exciting events of my summer took place: MY BEST FRIEND KIRSTEN CAME TO DC. Kirsten is originally from Minnesota where her dad is a very active member of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. The National Corn Growers had a conference in DC this week so Kirsten got to tag along to spend some time with me. How did I meet a Minnesota Corn legacy you may ask? Well, she did her freshman year at Iowa State and I was the weird girl who went up to her on the second day of class and invited myself to go have lunch with her. That act led to her being my roommate for half of freshman year and after 3 years she's still one of my best friends. Anyways back to this week, Kirsten and her family were gracious enough to invite me to dinner with them and fellow MCGA members not one night, but three! Kirsten's dad made sure I was well fed and got introduced to ALL the members we went to diner with. I learned A LOT about grain legislation in 3 short days and am vey gracious for their hospitality and not giving me too much crap about being a hog girl from Iowa. I even got to meet one of the MCGA members who had recently been elected to serve on the National Corn Growers Board! I was surrounded by Minnesota Corn Celeb status it seemed like! (Be sure to check out the YouTube video on my page about Minnesota Corn starring Kirsten's dad, Les) Aside from all the corny talk, I also took off some time from work to show Kirsten the sites of DC! We walked A LOT and I impressed her with all my DC fun facts (that I had memorized from taking a bus tour two weeks prior so that I could try to impress Kirsten and make her think I knew everything about DC). Iowa Corn will always be #1 but Minnesota Corn is a close 2nd (and I decided to not make fun of their accents too much since they were paying for 3 of my meals but there were definitely some hard 'Os') Kirsten visiting couldn't have come at a better time and made the week before going home just fly by!