Purdue, Warren Central Intermediate Alcorn visit a success
Alcorn State University continues to broaden its horizons by forming partnerships with other schools for the betterment of its students.
Alcorn’s Department of Agriculture welcomed about 20 of Purdue University’s College of Agriculture students from West Lafayette, Ind. and about 80 5th and 6th grade students from Warren Central Intermediate School in Vicksburg, Miss. to learn about the different aspects of agriculture on Monday, October 13. The general opening sessions opened in the Ray Johnson Assembly Room and then moved to the Ecology/Dairy area for the morning session.
Department of Agriculture’s Chair Dr. Daniel J. Collins mentioned how important it is to develop a relationship with Purdue to give the students more exposure.
“The benefits are tremendous. It is extremely important for universities to come together. We envision that the friendship and partnership we’ve made with Purdue University will be life long. I believe that these students will see each other again as they transition into careers in this field,” said Collins.
Doctor Shawn Donkin from Purdue explained how future agriculture students must play a huge role in cracking the perplexing problems of the future.
“We’re relying on students like you to solve the future problems that we have as a planet. We are a very important industry because we, as agricultural scientists, have to think of the best ways to become involved in solving problems,” said Donkin.
Doctor Pam Morris, who also represented Purdue University, spoke about using the opportunity as a recruiting tool to encourage students, specifically minorities, to the predominantly white school.
“We’re looking to bring people of different races so that we can expose a great deal of students to our college. We try to promote our college to students before they enter college to encourage them to take advantage of what Purdue has to offer,” said Morris.
Warren Central Intermediate 6th grade English/Language Arts teacher Christina Hood thought the trip would benefit her students in their effort to start their own garden.
“We decided to come to the program because we’re starting an organic garden with the students. We’ve been doing some intense studying on agriculture. We thought that, since Alcorn is an agriculturally centered school, would be a perfect fit for us,” said Hood.
President of the Alcorn Vicksburg Warren County Alumni Chapter Lakesha Batty was excited about the opportunity to bring the students so that they can see what goes on at Alcorn.
“I was more than happy to bring students to Alcorn as a recruitment tool, as well as to show off what Alcorn has to offer,” said Batty.
