USU Agricultural Communications Student, Interns at the National FFA Convention

As a senior at Utah State University studying agricultural communications, Kaitlyn Lunt hopes to pursue a career in marketing or public relations in the agricultural industry after graduating in the spring. A recent internship with the National FFA Organization introduced her to a variety of career opportunities available through her degree.

Lunt secured an internship as part of the newsroom team for the FFA Live! Inside Convention Show during the National FFA Convention last fall. The National FFA Organization has nearly one million members, though only approximately 70,000 are able to attend the convention. The FFA Live! Inside Convention Show allows all members to experience the event in some capacity.

“I really enjoyed getting to tell the stories of these FFA kids and what they really like about agriculture,” said Lunt.

Lunt was one of 10 interns selected for the program, all of whom were college students from across the nation. Each day, she was assigned a story topic and tasked with producing it in four different formats: broadcast, radio, social media, and written articles.

“We got to work with videographers and editors, and they were really cool,” Lunt said. “They had some people that put on Super Bowls, and the guy I worked with does all the commercials for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.”

The broadcast portion of her work aired on FFA Live, the social media content was posted to FFA’s official platforms, the radio version was featured on the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, and the written pieces was published in FFA New Horizons magazine.

Lunt described “getting to be a part of FFA again” as her favorite part of the internship. She discovered the opportunity through social media. When asked if she had any advice for others considering similar experiences, she shared her initial feelings of doubt before encouraging others:

“Apply anyway! Go for it. Go do fun things that are outside of your comfort zone. It is an invaluable experience that you really cannot get anywhere else in that short amount of time.”