So in the College of Agriculture, we have a student services office that the purpose of that office is to really support students, particularly undergraduate students, in their time here in the College of Agriculture at Auburn University.

In my role as Associate Dean, I have the opportunity to work with all of the different aspects that go into supporting a student's time here at Auburn.

So whether that's in the very beginning, the recruiting or while they're here in terms of advising, I also work with the individuals in our office that do career and professional development that help with study abroad.

I also oversee scholarships for the College of Agriculture.

And then I also help with any issues related to curriculum.

So any courses, majors and minors in the college.

And then I also get to help faculty members support them in their teaching.

Finding resources to support them.

Help them with their instructional programs.

So it really kind of touches all aspects of an undergraduate students time here majoring in the College of Agriculture.

So the mission and the goal for my position is really to to help students find their their place in the college and in the industry.

So helping them see, you know, what all they could do and to dream about where they want to be when they graduate.

And so that's really what I see my position as in the college.

And the goal is to really help them see how big agriculture is and where their fit is in the industry.

So in terms of some of the opportunities that we offer to students, I like to think that we we started off at the very beginning in Camp War Eagle which is freshman orientation.

So the students, we know they're coming to Auburn.

They're here for orientation.

They're here to learn more about the college.

They're here to get registered for their fall classes.

And we use that time with them to really start to tell them a lot about the resources and opportunities that we offer to students and to also encourage them to take advantage of those opportunities and to engage with them.

So we want to we want to start that that message early.

And then when the students come back to campus in the fall, we reinforce that with our welcome back picnic that we have every fall.

That's a time to welcome students.

And it also has all of the different clubs in the college have a booth there.

So again, the students can see some of the different ways that they can be involved with with clubs either related to their major or just related to anything that they're interested in.

So we offer career fairs, so they're getting to visit one on one with industry and get to talk to them about what the industry looks like, what the trends are and how they can prepare to enter the workforce.

We also have an alumni mentoring program where we pair our students up with our alumni.

Our industry represented is and they get to work with those students over the course of seven months, prepping them and and coaching them for what it could look like in the industry.

So as we were looking around the college, at the things we do to support students, the opportunities we provide them, we were wondering if there were some additional opportunities for sort of kind of an additional format for for students.

And that's where we really took a look at the Our Work Seminar series.

the Our Work seminars were created in 2014 and they were created just as a simple lunch and learn seminar series where we fed the students lunch and we brought in an alumni who came and told their story for over a one hour period.

And so those we were doing pretty good with those that were really great.

Just a great connection piece for students to to hear how they could prep for the industry.

They were getting advice from those alumni and they were actually hearing from them what it looks like to work in in the agriculture and natural resources industry itself So in 2020 when COVID hit, it kind of changed the way that we did and thought about student programing when, you know, we weren't werent any longer on campus for that matter, or in the classroom.

So how are we going to provide students with access and with resources to learn about careers if we couldn't see them in person?

And so I spent the summer of 2020 kind of brainstorming what what specifically the Our Work Seminars were going to look like.

And so I came up with an idea of what if, if students can't go to alumni, what if we went to alumni?

Because at that time we could travel a little bit individually.

And what if we went and we captured it on film?

You know, in the past, when we brought in alumni, they were either using a PowerPoint or really just reading off their resume about their their career path and career journey.

So I thought, wouldn't it be fun if we could actually see the work in action and not just seeing that alumni on a Zoom call sitting in their office, that that would kind of really be boring for the student.

But if they could go see in action what it looks like and make the connection to what they're learning in the classroom and how what that's going to look like an industry, that that would be a true game changer for the student and being able to visually see what they couldn't see any more because they weren't allowed to travel on field trips or anything like that.

So that's kind of how the work film started with that idea.

And we came together as a team of student services with no idea how to do production, how to really do a film at all.

And so we relied heavily on our Ag Communications and Marketing office.

So for the first year they helped us film.

And those turned out those first few films turned out pretty good for a team of people that really had no clue what we were doing.

But we realized that we wanted to take it further.

And so in 2021, we were able to hire a videographer and she came in and just kind of was the missing the missing piece for the films and was able to make them crisp and flow and really convey the message that we had for students with the films.

I'm the owner of Bridge E Bridge Productions.

I create video and stop motion art for brands and organizations that value nature, community, our environment and adventure.

So I was first contacted for the Our Work series by the Communications and Marketing Department at the College of Agriculture, and I was really excited right off the bat because this project really aligned with my own mission and goals for the projects that I really wanted to work on and that I was passionate about.

So right from the beginning I sat down with the Our Work team and Megan and I really took the time to listen to their vision, their goals and what they really wanted this product to be.

So my role for the project was really to help on the production side of things, help with gear, the filming, the audio, and then putting everything together in a product that really encompassed what they saw and what they wanted for the project.

So, you know, when you hear from someone about what they do, they can describe it and do a good job of describing it.

And they may even, you know, if they were giving a PowerPoint presentation, they could show some pictures or maybe a short video clip.

But the way we have transformed the Our Work Seminars into short films really gives you much better visual representation and a much better appreciation for what those operations actually look like.

Some of them are extremely complex and it would be hard to just describe them using words only.

So if we're there filming, it's live action.

We can actually see the processes in motion and going.

That really helps give a much clearer picture, you know, kind of of what some of those opportunities look like.

And they're just, you know, they've turned out to just be really visually appealing representations, but also extremely informative and interactive to just kind of give a different side of of sort of what it is we do and what opportunities are there for our students.

So when we think about planning a new our work seminar, we kind of have some planning sessions where we brainstorm different topics, different ideas.

And once we've decided what our topics are going to be for the coming year, then we work through like what we'd really like to accomplish with each topic.

So what is it we want the students to know?

What is it we want the people that are featured in the film to speak about?

What is it that we want to show not only to students, but again to that broader audience?

Megan reached out to me via email and talked about the Our Work series and the goals of the program and asked if I would be willing to be a part of that on behalf of the Food Safety and Quality team.

And I was really excited to be a part of that because I think this is a great program.

So after agreeing to to be a part of the the team, we had a meeting, pre-production, to discuss kind of what what they were looking for and what they wanted to focus on.

And we talked about the different programs that we offered to see which ones would be a fit for the program.

And we landed on the ServSafe program that our team offers and the Cottage Foods program that our team offers.

So once we've kind of honed in on a topic or an area of the industry that we want to look at, we start coming up with the different players.

So who do we want to interview?

Who would be an interesting person or into what would be an interesting place to see and so we start figuring out who the players are for the film, and then we reach out to those individuals and we set up and set up pre-planning meetings.

And so we get them on board with what we're wanting to do.

And we learn learn about what it is that they do get a big, bigger picture of what it is they do.

Because sometimes I know a little bit about the topic, but then when we meet with them, we get a really clear picture of what the film could look like and get a more a better understanding of what it is that they're doing.

So during these initial meetings, I really like to start focusing in and brainstorming about what B-roll shots or action shots we can use to go along with the interview footage.

A lot of times when we come to film our subjects for filming what they do on a daily basis, and sometimes the stuff that they're doing just seems normal.

And for them it's no longer exciting because it's what they do every single day.

And so I really like to talk with them and kind of put some feelers out for what we can film that may still be new, exciting for someone outside of the scope of what they're doing.

You know, there's College of Agriculture students that come from more of a town or a city background, and they may have never seen a combine go in through a cotton field or they may have never seen an oyster farm or some of those things like that.

And so I really try to help start brainstorming, putting some feelers out for what we could film and what we do want to see, even if it seems kind of mundane for our subjects.

And that way when we show up on filming day, they can have some of that stuff already prepared And so as much as I can kind of instill that thought early on that we want to be doing things and walking and having them show us stuff that kind of gets the wheels turning.

So when we show up on filming day, we're we're ready and we're prepared.

Meghan reached out and gave us a little briefing on what the project was about.

Of course, we were very interested in the opportunity to share some of our work down here on the coast with that project.

And, you know, a series of emails went back and forth, getting schedules arranged, working out shot lists, locations, working around a little weather, as I recall.

But generally speaking, it was handled, you know, by way of email.

Maybe a phone call here and there.

But that's that's how it came to be.

There's a lot of little details, that I do that are still really important.

So finding email addresses figuring out where we're going to go exactly.

Getting directions, arranging travel, that's all the more like planning side of it.

So from there we start coming up with the questions and working with those individuals to set filming dates and and set the plan for what it is that we want to see when we're visiting with them.

And so then we go and we actually film So a filming day for me really starts the night before, whether that's at my house or sometimes we're at a hotel if we're traveling and I start laying all the gear out, I need to get everything charged.

So we have camera batteries, drone batteries, microphone batteries and really laying out and making sure we have everything we need for the unknown.

A lot of times we show up on filming days, and even though we have a general idea of what we're going to see, we're not always sure where the day's going to take us.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm good.

Good to see you.

This is Bridget, our videographer?

And this is another Meagan.

Hi.

Nice to meet you.

So you tell me what you want to see or do first, because we have stuff, obviously, outside, office stuff inside.

and so we show up with them.

And a lot of times maybe what we've outlined is going to happen may change on us just because we get there and we see it's a much bigger, much bigger piece or there's a lot more to see and a lot more things that we want students to know about.

So it's always evolving as we go, but we always have that that core piece that we look back at from the beginning of this is our overarching goal.

This is what we want students to see, and then we kind of play that end to action.

So we actually, you know, spend either a couple hours to a full day filming with those individuals.

I wanted them to start outside and just kind of like a brief introduction.

Talk about where we're at.

You guys can each introduce yourself a little bit and Megan will kind of guide you.

And then usually Megan says, Great, Well, can we take a look at some of the things you guys have been working on?

And we usually kind of cut the camera and make a reset and figure out where we were on everything.

So when we show up for a filming day, I'm usually starting to get the equipment ready right away.

We have a few things to set up that takes a little bit of time.

And while I'm doing that, Megan introduces herself and does a really good job just chatting with her subjects and making them feel comfortable before we start anything.

And I think that's really important and kind of a key thing in having a successful filming day, because a lot of times the subjects that we're filming, they're not used to being in front of a camera.

That's not something they do on a day to day basis.

So that can be pretty daunting and it can be kind of scary.

So by having those conversations kind of at the beginning kind of eases tensions a little bit and really helps once we start filming to make things easy.

You So I'm rolling on my end whenever you guys ready?

So, Dr. Wells, tell us about what we're seeing from start to finish.

How does it work?

Okay, so let's restart.

All right.

All right.

All right.

I'm still rolling.

So, Dr. Wells, tell us about what we're seeing.

So from start to finish, how does this work?

part in the Our Work series was focused on vertical farms.

We operate two container farms on campus here at Auburn University, and all the produce that comes out of those vertical farms goes to campus dining.

And so the seminar was about that connection between what we're doing in the vertical farming space and then the connection with campus dining.

I remember I don't remember how I was contacted, but I do remember sort of the day that we filmed it was Megan Ross was there and was we were just having a conversation and it was laid back.

We walked through the the shipping container that that's turned into a farm and showed her how the technology works.

And we had a conversation and she even get to taste some produce.

this is our this is a wasabi arugula that's called wasabi.

And it does taste just like wasabi.

So it's very spicy.

If you want to come take a take a bite.

It's really it's really neat.

Here.

Wow.

I think that's the wasabi.

Wow thats spicy.

Does it taste like wasabi?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, that's cool.

Yeah, I need some water.

So we're trying to like, we talked to the chef about making a wasabi pesto and using that with it.

I wasn't expecting that.

I.

Now I'm not.

Actually.

I'm sorry.

I should have.

I should have prepared you more, So the first location, we were actually at an oyster gardener's house on Little Lagoon, which is a small body of water that's in Baldwin county kind of squished between Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

And so we spent some time there looking at the Oyster gardening project, specifically what the volunteers do, the type of gear that they use, the products that they're handling.

And given the timing that we were shooting, that was later in the season.

So the oysters were a little bit bigger.

After we finished there, we moved down the road, actually switched into the bay.

So just north of where we were.

And we're looking at some of our research sites that had just started putting juvenile oysters out.

So you able to see the small oysters, the same kind of idea where the oysters were set on larger parent shells.

But you got to see sort of the beginning and the end of the process between those two locations.

So right now we're an Admiral Shellfish Company.

This is a private oyster farm.

Privately owned oyster farm.

And we have a great relationship with the owner.

The owner is actually an oyster gardener, and we have worked an arrangement with him to stage some of our research here on site.

And then you see that behind us on the tall pilings and see our boat back there working some of that gear.

The purpose of the questions that we're looking at with with this research we've just talked about oyster gardening, we've seen that sort of individual model for for a single person.

We like that citizen engagement.

We want to maintain that, but we want to be able to grow more oysters in a location with less labor.

every time you film, you're filming a new person for the first time, Right?

You haven't you've you've maybe sort of talked through what you're going to talk about, but this is the first time you're asking them questions on camera and they're responding.

So, you know, you have to have someone really good that can kind of, you know, hear the answers and then, you know, be able to ask really good follow up questions and just keep that conversation going.

So, you know, it's there's always a little bit of an unknown about how that interview is just going to unfold.

So far, we've had really great success in all instances.

But, you know, sometimes the individuals, you know, maybe a little bit nervous about being interviewed and we just try to, you know, put them at ease and just sort of create a a casual kind of conversational environment.

And that seems to have worked really well for us.

So my role in the film, is I get to actually interview.

So I'm kind of like the host.

So I work alongside whoever we're interviewing and I'm on the journey with them in this this story.

And so it's, you know, I have to walk in really cold water sometimes, eat foods that maybe I am not accustomed to and really make sure that they're comfortable on camera.

So that's kind of it's been fun to to to work with these individuals and to really help coach them along in their storytelling.

for sure.

You want to do this?

Ahhhhhh.

Its cold.

It's fine after you get in.

Hey, you got to get deeper than that.

Oh, okay.

Just to get the feel of it.

Are you a swimmer?

Yes.

What temperature do you like to swim at?

Not this cold.

Lord.

Part of the management of the farm involves drying the oysters, much like oysters on the East Coast, where you have a six foot tidal range at low tide, oysters are out in the water and they dry off.

And that's really important.

If you don't, you're going to get barnacles like these that grow up on the oyster and make it a not as unappealing a product as it would be if it was a clean oyster.

So our vision for the film of how we wanted it to look is, you know, we always said from the beginning we didn't want a talking head, we wanted to see action, and we wanted to really walk through the process with that individual.

So we filmed it from a few different angles.

We do a few sit down interviews, but most of the time it's a pure walk and talk.

So we're either walking through the farm or walking through the production facility and we're seeing all kinds of different aspects and how that all works together.

And what we were able to to ask this on the spot questions, you know, of how does this work and what does that look like, Can you show us?

And so really creating a true visual for the student.

So maybe so they can really see from point A to point B what it looks like.

All righty.

So I am rolling.

You're rolling.

I can hear both of you.

Do you hear me?

Yes.

You're on a different mic.

But yes, you're still picked up on that.

There's a little piece of your hair that's kind of.

There you go.

So they look at me though or do they look at you.

We didn't discuss that.

So you always want to kind of cheat toward the camera.

So if you're talking to Megan, you don't want to be, you know, fully this way.

But yeah, ultimately you're talking to Megan.

So really, you almost want to keep your body facing towards the camera, but you can turn your head slightly towards her.

And you guys all have sunglasses on, so it's okay if you're not making eye contact with Megan, if you're just kind of slightly.

Just make sure your head's pointing this way.

Yeah, I got.

I got my Auburn glasses on.

All ready.

Whenever you guys are ready.

We are rolling.

you know, the Our Work series I think is is really good.

And the crew that does the filming and does the interviews do a really great job.

And I think and my opinion is the reason is because it's a real life thing.

It's not just you're not just sitting in a room, you're not just talking about it.

It's not real stare.

It's, you know, I really wanted to walk around and kind of show what we do and and kind of see I guess you'd say, the fruits of our labor and kind of look over our whole operation.

And, you know, they do really good.

They prepped, they sent me the questions, so I kind of had an idea of what they wanted to hear.

And then I also knew the things that I wanted to make sure that people knew.

So it really it was really great.

I think we have a real good partnership with that group.

So once they've been harvested, they're ready to go.

Where do they go from there?

We have a walk-in cooler that we move them to.

And we put them in.

We pick and put them in picking lugs and we'll show you that a little bit.

We use the picking lugs and so that the air will circulate.

In big production facilities They use, they call them mac bins.

They're these big, huge bins.

They dump them in there, but they immediately dump them out.

We don't want to do that because they're stacked on one another and that the grapes are there deep in that in that mac bin and they're hot and theyre going to start fermenting.

You don't want them to.

So I do a little bit of directing, just making sure they're facing the camera and kind of having them stand in a way that's flattering in terms of the lighting and anything kind of like that.

But otherwise we really try to not direct too much.

We really want these shoots to be very candid and natural, opposed to more of a talking head interview that we often see.

And I think that's really important in kind of driving home the feel of what it's actually like for someone working in the location or the field that they're in.

We want it to really kind of feel like when you're watching these films that you're actually there to and this is what it feels like a day in their shoes.

This is what it feels like to work at this company.

This is what it feels like to be on this farm.

And sometimes things are happy and go lucky.

Sometimes things are, you know, really mind stimulating and everyone's having these great conversations.

So we really like to kind of let that natural flow happen and kind of occur.

And then when it comes to the editing process, I really try to highlight a lot of that.

it was very laid back.

I really appreciated that style.

We didn't do anything different.

So what we did was I told the students to show up and put their gear on and let's just have a normal day.

And Megan and the film crew were there and sort of watched what we did and then have a had a conversation with us.

So it was very laid back.

It was nothing showy and it was very comfortable for me.

I'm a fourth year now.

My senior year I majored in a Batman biological Agricultural technology management.

Yes.

I never get tired of saying it.

Last summer I was at Manna House in Huntsville.

So I started working on an indoor vertical farm, kind of like this.

There's was in a a big warehouse, basically.

And I worked there last summer.

I loved it.

It was a lot of fun.

And I work with lettuce all summer.

I understand how nutrients work and the calcium and the pH and understanding how the whole system works.

And because of that, I was able to come back here, I took Dr. Wells hydroponics class afterwards.

And then he got these and he asked me, Do you want to hop in on this since I already did it last summer was like, absolutely, Let's keep it rolling.

So I startred with them and I kind of dontnwant to stop.

They are great technology to keep learning about.

Working with the Our work team was wonderful.

It was truly a smooth process and I was nervous because I don't have a lot of experience in front of the camera, but they told us exactly what they were looking for.

they work to help the scenes be set up in the way they needed them to be set up.

They ask questions that really helped the people that we were working with so the CNP staff and the Cottage Foods producer feel comfortable and they were able to show what they did in a good light, in a very positive light.

So in terms of some of the locations and, and that we've covered some of the places we visited, we've definitely filmed some really great footage right here on campus in the College of Agriculture at Auburn University.

But we've also traveled so we've traveled, you know, 45 minutes down the road, 3 hours down the road, we've traveled to other states.

And so in doing so, we've really been able to capture a broad range of operations and a broad range of activities that, you know, our colleagues and alumni are involved in.

you know, if you think about what goes into creating one of these films, there's a lot of planning that goes into it.

But that doesn't mean it's not without its challenges.

And those can just be a lot of different things.

In many cases, we're filming outdoors, You know, is the lighting going to cooperate, you know, is the background noise going to cooperate?

So there's just kind of a lot of variables when you're filming outdoors, There's always, you know, weather can be a big hindrance to what we're doing.

You know, we've been caught in a storm on a boat in the middle of the ocean when we were filming for oysters, which was a little scary at the time.

You know, we've had to we've worked with with bees and so been around the hive all suited up.

And when you're not comfortable with that, you know what's going to happen.

What if someone gets stung?

What's that gonna look like?

So certainly weather and then, you know, you're always working with people that they're like us.

This is not their everyday job being interviewed and really formatting their what they do into a film format.

I think one of the biggest challenges from a production side is really just having to be prepared for the unknown.

We always have a general idea when we show up on shooting days of what we want to focus on and what we want to film.

But a lot of times we end up seeing and doing things that we didn't even know were an option when we have some of those initial meetings.

So it's really important for me to have an equipment kit that is both fast and efficient and also mobile so we can really follow and go anywhere they want to take us.

Well, we've walked through sand before.

We've been on boats, you know, we've walked up and down combines, you know, in small spaces and big spaces inside outside.

So it's really important that I have something ready to go where we can keep things moving and kind of be ready for any of that.

The weather, of course, we've been in extremely hot days where the camera wants to overheat.

There's been rainy days where I've been prepared and had rain covers and trash bags to keep the gear stored away.

And that way we can keep things moving no matter what, especially on days when we travel.

You know, we're there for just that one day.

And so we have to make the most of it and always keep things going.

So once filming is done, Bridget will create a script for us to look at.

So Ill review that script of all the different sound bites and the different storylines that we got, and she comes in with the storyline that she really thinks is going to work.

And so I review that say yes or no or add to or take away and then that turns into a production piece that she gives me the first draft draft of that usually a few weeks before we air it.

And so we look at the draft and make sure that everything looks good, that there's nothing that we need to change.

And then we air the film on our film date to students and we bring in a few of the representatives that are in the film.

So they'll be there after the film is shown, and they'll be there to talk about the film and answer any questions for the people that are there in person.

And then we also we launch on those those film dates.

We launch it, you know, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, basically through all our college social media platforms for everyone that can't be there to see.

I heard about the seminars through my friend in my entomology lab who was actually in one of the videos.

She was on the horticulture field trip and she was telling me about them and she was going to go to one of them and she was like, Hey Nick, you wanna come they have free food.

And so I went and I saw one.

And then I think I ended up seeing three or four because they were really cool.

For most of the films, they're in Funchess Hall.

And so it's really easy., just after class, it was actually in a classroom next door to mine, and so I was able to just walk over.

You go in, there's usually the people from the film who were there, so afterwards they can do a Q&A, which is, I thought, really interesting.

You could ask questions.

You can hear what other people in the audience are thinking during the film.

But yeah, it's really laid back.

Megan does a short introduction and we hop right into the film.

That seminar was the first time I saw the product at the end.

So I saw it for the first time, just like the audience there saw it for the first time.

So, interesting, the way the process goes is you're you're shooting clips here and there.

And so you're focused on the clip.

Sometimes you lose the larger picture.

So to have it all come back together as a cohesive product, we were very pleased with it.

And then the people that were there had lots of really good questions.

So it made me even more confident about the product that that they were able to watch it.

It stimulated questions, it stimulated conversations.

And so I, I was very pleased not only with the product, but I was pleased with the the future utility of the product because I feel like being able to produce those types of segments will allow us to put that out into space and generate interest in groundswell and some of the work that we're doing.

We saw an initial screening and I didn't know what to expect exactly.

I knew what we had filmed that day and I thought that would be nice to see the plants and sort of see the whole process.

But I was really impressed with how it was all put together, in particular how it was edited to actually have some funny moments in it, which I always appreciated.

So it was great.

of the rewarding parts about the films is that we're not only impacting students and showing them what they could do, but we're, you know, the people that we interview and that we work with, they're just so excited to see that product and to see their film or their farm featured on a film and on a grand scale, and to be able to tell their story to all their constituents and all the people that they interact with.

And they're just so thankful and I think that's been rewarding to know that we've helped.

We've helped people further their story and further telling what they're doing and and the impact that they're making.

September was the first, when they debuted, or did the broadcast, the first time of the film, thats the first time I had seen it and my husband and I went down and we were in there and we watched it.

And when it first come up, it was like, I punched him and I was like thats our place.

I didn't I almost didn't recognize it and it overwhelmed me.

I'll just be honest.

It really it brought tears to my eyes because I don't see our vineyard that way.

I'm in the middle of the rows and I'm trimming and trunking and pruning and that kind of thing.

But to see it from that perspective, that drone perspective, and to see it all, it really was a little overwhelming because, you know, it's almost ten years worth of work for us.

And to see my vision for what I wanted our vineyard to be in reality, to see it at that point, it was a little overwhelming, I have to be honest, but it was really cool.

I mean, we, it was really neat.

It was really neat So as we envision these Our Work Seminars, we really think about them initially, primarily for our students.

you know, but they also have other uses beyond just our current students so we can think about showing them to prospective students to sort of get them excited about possibly majoring in one of our majors in the College of Agriculture.

And we also share them with high school teachers and invite them to show them in their classrooms, you know, just to help their students.

Those high school students learn a little bit more about what opportunities are available.

You know, we've even shared them with faculty members here in the College of Agriculture, encourage them to show them in their classes.

And then we also know that many of the individuals that are featured in our films, they actually take those films back to their workplace and then that individual business or company is able to use them as well.

Just to tell a little bit more about what they do.

So what we're really finding is that they are really having the potential to have a lot of reach.

In fact, just last week I shared the share them with faculty members at another university, and they were very excited.

I told them, you're welcome to show them in your class any time.

So it's just a really great educational piece, not only for our students, but really for anyone who's interested in learning more about all of the interesting disciplines in agriculture.

So our facility is just under 20,000 square feet.

So for a university, this is really state of the art.

We're very proud of it.

We want it to be kind of the gold standard in terms of university processing plants.

It really gives our students a firsthand look at the exact equipment that they will see out in the industry and in a commercial operations.

They get hands on experience with the same equipment here.

So they really get a leg up when they go out in the industry on internships and when they take jobs.

That's not the first time that they're seeing those things.

So we're really proud to have this facility here.

We run about 2 to 3 times a month right now, but we are working on expanding how often we can run.

A typical run for us is between 6070-700 birds, which is not really anywhere close to what a daily operation would run.

But our facility is for the purposes of research, teaching and extension activities.

So what we run is based off of research needs and what trials we have going on in the farm at that time.

So it's super important to highlight the opportunities for students and also for the general public to see what we're actually doing at the University.

The programs that we're running, they're student led.

These students are getting trained in the state of the art, and we want our industry partners to know that as well.

So it's not only just teaching our students what's available to them when they graduate, but also showing the industry and the general public that we have really well trained, high quality students coming out of our program.

Students now want to watch videos, they want to watch content, they want to learn things from short visual videos.

And the Our Work Seminars are taking that desire and providing what they want.

It's a way for students to basically get a portion of their education, like Tik Tok style.

It's able for them to meet students where they are.

They want to watch videos, learning things online, and Our Work Seminars are those visual representations of what our office does, what a degree in the college of Agriculture can provide.

You know, for our students, some of our students come in and they know exactly what what they want to do, and they're very focused on that.

And then you have a lot of students that come in to the college and don't know what it is they want to do.

And and what they can do.

And so these films have been great opportunities to just showcase what all they can do and to think outside of the box.

And, you know, agriculture is huge and there's so many different pieces and roles that our students can play in making it, making agriculture better.

And so for those students that maybe don't know what they want to do, this is a way for them to to really expand and to see what it is they could do.

And for the students that maybe know what they do, what they want to do, maybe we're I'm hoping that we're educating them on the different different roles and different possibilities and the different things that help make what they want to do possible.

So as someone in the video field, one thing that I always try to include in a project and think about really early on, even in the production phase, is to have a call to action.

And a call to action is really thinking about what the viewer is going to do when they finish the film.

So sometimes that can mean sharing the film or commenting or visiting a website.

When we look at the Our Work Series, I think the call to action is really to inspire others to look at the opportunities available to them.

And so that may be being inspired to go out and get that internship and maybe being inspired to start a research project or enter an area that they didn't even realize was a possibility.

You know, and I think from a consumer standpoint, watching these videos will inspire them to want to go out and see what local opportunities and programs are available around them.

It kind of educates them on where their food might come from or what's been done to progress the agriculture industry and inspire them to really want to help out and be appreciative of all these great things that are going on One of the most impactful experiences from the programing side of our work seminars is we had a student interested in water, and I just knew that because she was one of my student workers.

So I sent her to go see one of the Our Work Seminars about environmental science to see what kind of jobs she could have with that.

From there, she made contact with some of the people involved in it, but she also took it upon herself to learn more, talk to people at career fairs, more programing that the college offers, and she got an internship from it.

So she saw something she was interested in and then went and got an internship and put it into practice.

The internship ultimately proved that she did not want to be involved with it, but she still got to a hands on experience from a video that our office created.

Um, I saw a really cool one that featured a farm in Alabama that actually allowed veterans to go there and to work and I thought that their concept was really cool with how they were providing a space for these people to go to gain valuable skills to work.

And I was actually able to tell my friend that concept who is interested in doing a similar set up with kind of having really like a holistic like farming experience.

So like a he wants to do the farming and his he wants his friend to do like a restaurant kind of in the same complex.

And I was able to let him know some of those ideas.

And really the whole point of the Our Work Seminars as they've come to be now is to really just make students aware of just all of the opportunities that are available to them.

You know, the field of agriculture is extremely diverse in terms of career possibilities, you know, areas where you might work, just all of the different types of of things that you can do.

And we really wanted to make sure that students were aware of that and also to kind of give them sort of some professional advice.

So a lot of times you'll hear our speakers giving advice directly to students in the Our Work Seminars, and I think that's helpful for the students to hear some of those recommendations for more than one place.

You know, they kind of that helps to reinforce sort of some of those recommendations just for ways to be successful, ways to be engaged, ways to be involved, just ways to make their time here at Auburn more well-rounded, more meaningful and more connected.

So for me, when I was an undergrad, I had really horrible internships.

I was either like the person that people would have file stuff or no one ever asked me what I wanted to learn.

I was just like there to like heavy breathe and take up space.

So I decided when I was given the opportunity to lead this organization that I really wanted to give interns the opportunity to hone a skill.

So I think if you're in an undergrad and you don't know what you want to be when you grow up number one, I think a lot of people feel that way even when they're quote unquote, grown up.

But number two, I think it's important to use your time for internships so you can figure out what kind of work culture is important to you, so you can figure out what matters to you from a value set, but also to get hands on experience.

Because oftentimes in the classroom, unless you are in a service learning environment or have some sort of experiential, you know, experience, then like you don't really know you're hearing about it on paper without actually going out and doing the fieldwork.

So I am a huge proponent of bringing in students from all backgrounds into our organization because it takes an interdisciplinary approach to solve these systemic issues.

So whether you're a business major marketing, major public health, environmental science, there's a place for you in an organization like Coosa Riverkeeper.

I think these films are really important so that we can see kind of what was happening in agriculture and around the college, because I feel like sometimes when you get into a degree poultry science or entomology or horticulture, you know, it's kind of easy to get locked into that little department.

And sometimes you're so busy with your own classes or your own research or your own like internships that you kind of forget about all the really cool things happening around you.

And with these films, I get to go in and I get to see a little bit of that.

I think I talk to a lot of college students and high school students, and one of the things that I always say to them, I think is unrealistic and ask a 18 year old, what are you going to do with the rest of your life?

And I think the disconnect I say this for myself when I was in college, there is a disconnect between student and what you can use your degree for.

And I think that having opportunities for students to work in in the industry to see and to meet mentors so they can see what jobs if I get a degree in fruit vegetable production, what can I do with that was not always just working at a plant farm.

It there's there's multiple things that you can do with that.

And the degree this gives you the foot in the door and it gives you the ability to learn, it just shows you perspective and the importance that, hey, I have the ability to learn, but it helps that students see what careers are out there that they would have never thought about if that if it hadn't been for the that that mentor program or the internships and Our Works.

we had the initial seminar and then of course we had posted the whole film on our department website and I think there's links in other places, but I actually hear more about this particular film than anything else that I've been a part of, because when it plays and people see it, it's got the humor aspect to it.

People really like it.

We pushed it out through our social media that is associated with our our programing.

We shared it with, you know, the way oyster gardening is set up we've got sub groups that do oyster gardening under a larger umbrella.

And so we would send it to them and then they would share it with their gardeners.

And so there were lots of opportunities for people to, to see the, the end product, both, you know, at the seminar but also after the seminar.

And that's one of the beauties of these types of productions is that they have life after sort of the focus point seminar.

They can continue to be used and viewed and still benefit the project going forward.

Another thing I do with the Our Work Seminars is I handle the social media stories about when we film and topics that we cover, and I've noticed a lot of analytics behind it, which I really like watching the collaboration with our student body, our alumni body industry individuals like the vertical farms and the fruit farms.

So I've noticed that there is a lot more involvement, whether it's current students, alumni, industry partners, department heads, our content is being watched and it's being shared.

And that's really exciting to know that people are excited about it.

They're invested in the product today we live in an electronic world and we live in instantaneous news world.

And and I think that ag if ag I see more and more ag industry things in the ag industry that are communicating through social media, they're communicating through websites and even websites have become almost a little passé because they're dated.

But the is the Instagrams, the social but the social media is so important because this is how students communicate.

So if you want students and you want young people to come into this industry, you got to meet them.

Where they are and where they are is dealing with instantaneous news, social media and quick things, newspapers, magazines.

They don't read any of that stuff unless it's on unless it's a social media post.

So I think that it's really important to use the social media aspect of it and communicate with it.

for me personally that the impact of these films has been pretty unique, I've really gotten to learn so much more about agriculture and to be able to to take what I've learned and really be able to tell students, Hey, did you know you could do this or did you know you could do that within your career field?

So it's really been a very eye opening experience for me to just to learn more about what our what we're doing as an industry and how what we're doing as a college impacts the industry.

As far as our audience, I think, yeah, it's the same thing.

They're getting to to hear and to see what the College of Agriculture, what we're producing in our graduates and what our industry and how what they're doing and the impact they're making to help make agriculture more sustainable.

You know, our food products are more healthy and and more safer.

So it's really it's really been great to be able to expose and really for people to really see what we're doing and what they can do within the agriculture and natural resources field The our work seminars are the most fun project that I am involved with in the College of Agriculture.

It's really fun for me to be able to almost butt myself in on this team that I can go around and really see what I'm preaching to students in Camp War Eagle or working with student groups that I'm involved with.

I get to show them this really cool project of what AG is, and it's not just traditional row crop, it's not what like friends or family think it is.

I'm like, Oh, let me show you about what we're doing with water quality.

Let's talk about drones.

It's really fun to be part of a team that you're just learning new things all day, every day, and that you can ask all these questions so that if you watch documentaries about them, like you can't be like, Oh, well, tell me about this drone.

How heavy is it?

How much water can you fit in there?

It's really fun to be able to go somewhere and make a connection with somebody and get all of your questions answered that you might have.

I really think anyone has the opportunity to gain something by watching the Our Work series.

I think they would be pleasantly surprised at how many opportunities are available in the agriculture industry.

I think they would be really surprised to see how many cool things are being done and what the amazing work is that is really going on in this field.

And I think those that are in the ag industry may be inspired by watching this series on how they can use video as well whether that's reaching a broader audience, you know, educating or promoting the work that they do.

So we're really excited about the upcoming season of the Our Work films, you know, being able to showcase more technology and more processes of the industry.

You know, I think what's been so great about these films is that we've been able to to be creative and how we produce these films and the stories that we're telling and being able to take a different approach to to student programing and to how we want students to learn about careers or really anybody to learn about what we're doing.

And so I encourage, you know, anyone out there within the industry, you know, to to really to be creative and to take chances.

You know, we didn't know that these were going to be as successful as they are and as we certainly hoped they would be.

But it's been a really fun opportunity to stretch to stretch ourselves and to highlight such a great industry.