[ad_1]
By Madeline Ostendorf
Iowa State University’s Agricultural Business Club took home two awards and a top spot in the annual Quiz Bowl at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association’s (AAEA) Annual Awards and Fellows Ceremony.
In the year Founded in 1954 by Iowa State, the club is open to all agricultural business sectors and hosts more than 200 members.
Amani Ilobeid, the club’s adviser and economics teacher, said the club is entirely student-led with dedicated mentors. The committees decide what awards to apply for and organize events, industry meetings and club educational sessions.
The Ag Business Club was honored with the Outstanding Chapter Club and Innovator Club Award at the annual AAEA ceremony held July 31-August 2 in San Diego. The club has won the Outstanding Chapter Club award in 14 of the last 20 years.
Outstanding chapter clubs are recognized throughout the academic year for their hard work based on the chapter’s goals and objectives, club membership recruitment, and chapter activities.
Creativity awards are given to clubs that organize special events during the school year. They will be judged on their written report on the idea or project, its execution and results. This year, the Ag Business Club won the award by adding two industry advisory positions to strengthen how the club interacts with agribusiness. Elizabeth Burns-Thompson from Navigator CO2 Ventures and Isaac Christensen from Summit Agriculture Group were selected as advisors.
“Our current industry mentors are selected to provide members with the opportunity to access the wealth of knowledge that our mentors have,” the club wrote in its award application. “In addition, the mentors can advise the students on career fair preparation, interviews, and connect students with other industry representatives to provide additional tips and insights.”
This year, some club members decided to restart the AAEA Quiz Bowl competition team a few months before the competition. In the past, the Ag Business Club has sent a team to compete, but for the past few years, Iowa State has not participated.
“I went to some of the executive committee members and said, ‘Why don’t we just test it and see if it’s something we want to revive?’ Elobeid said. “It’s a time commitment, and we haven’t been able to practice much. We can’t even find the answer software they use at the tournament.
Even though the entry was short, the team chose to go. The question plate group includes the following
- Jordan Balderston, junior in agricultural business
- Colton Moore, senior in agricultural business
- Natalie Ott, sophomore in agricultural business
- Jacob Samuelson, sophomore in agricultural business
“We are fortunate to have amazing professors here at Iowa State,” Ott said. “The question bowl topics cover microeconomics, macroeconomics, ag policy, finance and a variety of other categories. I took a lot of math classes, and the guys took more of the policy or ag finance classes, so it all just tied together.
The other schools had a full year to prepare, but the Iowa State club only had a few weeks. Elobeid said they went into the competition hoping to try their best, but if they didn’t do well, they wouldn’t be disappointed. The team finished third out of 14 teams.
“This is a testament to the strength of the agribusiness program and the strength of the core students,” Elobeid said.
Learn more about the Agribusiness Club by visiting their website.
[ad_2]
Source link
