Meat+Poultry - February 2018 - 83

scholarship is named after Frank Perdue, former president and CEO of
Perdue Farms, who was known for leading young people studying for
careers in the poultry industry down the best career path.
The program has been a part of the trade show for 50 years, and
groomed many top executives including:
x Donnie Smith, retired president and CEO of Tyson Foods Inc.
x Bill Lovette, current president and CEO of Pilgrim's
x Don Jackson, retired president and CEO of Foster Farms and Pilgrim's
x Keith Shoemaker, retired president and CEO of Butterball
x Dr. Don McIntyre, director of global research and technical support of
Diamond V
x Sandy Bishop, director, Food Safety & Quality, of Perdue Farms
x Dr. Sam Pardue, Dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, at the Univ. of Georgia
x Dr. Charles Olentine, executive vice president - Expo for USPOULTRY.
The previous goal of the Student Career Program was to find students
solely focused on poultry science. However, Jenkins and the team at
USPOULTRY have now expanded the program to appeal to students
studying a variety of courses.
"You had a time when it was only poultry science or animal science,"
Starkey says. "One of the things we've done is broaden the horizons on
the type of students that we need."
Starkey says the industry needs to recruit from a pool of students
in a variety of majors including accounting, information technology,
engineering, marketing and communications.
"They are mostly entry-level positions, but management trainees are
what a lot of the companies are recruiting for," Jenkins says. "There are
also tech service careers, maintenance and plant jobs as well. We want to
engage those non-ag students in our industry, to get them interested in a
food company."
The College Student Career Program is not only about finding students
jobs in the industry, but following their career progress after they
start those jobs. In the last few years, USPOULTRY has tried to engage
students more using social media and stay in touch with alumni from the
program as they continue working in the industry.
Starkey says it's important to provide data on how the students progress
through the industry. Industry leaders, managers and boards of directors
want to know the success of this program in the long term, he says.
"They want to have a better definition of the metrics around the
program," Starkey says. "They want proof that what they are investing
here is providing return to us as an industry."
At this year's IPPE, the USPOULTRY Foundation also brought
competition winners from the National FFA Organization to the show.
The Top 11 teams of the Poultry Evaluation Career Development Events,
the Top 10 teams of the Food Science Career Development Events and
the National Officer Candidates - nearly 80 students in all - attended the
2018 show.
Each year, the USPOULTRY Foundation also extends an invitation
to the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and North American
Meat Institute (NAMI) members to participate.
"AFIA and NAMI are important partners for USPOULTRY," Starkey
says. "We're pleased to have their members participate, in turn bringing
more personnel to the IPPE, for our mutual benefit."
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Meat+Poultry - February 2018

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