During the National FFA Convention last week in Indianapolis, FFA members had the chance to meet with representatives from more than 300 colleges and ag businesses. One of the universities that may have attracted the most attention throughout the event was Purdue.
“A lot of people think [Purdue] is just about farming or teaching about crops, but then they realize we have so much more,” says Hannah Kramer, who’s not only a Wildlife major at Purdue—she’s also a Purdue Ag Ambassador. So, when FFA members stopped by the Purdue area at the expo, Hannah was there to share why Purdue may be a good fit for them.
“Our biggest talking point is we are the Number three ranked College of Agriculture in the country and the Number five ranked College of Agriculture in the world,” she says. “With that recognition naturally comes a lot of connections. There are a lot of big companies that come in and want to work with our students—like Corteva Agriscience and Caterpillar—those are name brand companies who offer big connections for our students.”
She adds that Purdue Agriculture is more than just a college—it’s a community.
“We have about 3,000 undergraduate students, so we still have that nice close tight knit community,” she says. “Our students aren’t falling between the cracks because a lot of our departments have pretty small student-to-faculty ratios, so you can easily make connections with professors. It’s easy to reach out to them. There are just so many reasons why Purdue University goes above and beyond—especially with our College of Agriculture.”
Even though Hannah is from the Columbus, Ohio area and has a major university in her backyard, she shared why she chose to become a student at Purdue instead.
“Purdue is known for being a STEM school, so that was something that was very important to me. Even though I didn’t know exactly which major I wanted coming into Purdue, I did know I wanted something that was science-focused, so that was something that definitely drew me in.”
“Also, Purdue being a Big Ten school, has that exciting sports culture. It also had that familiarity in those comforts of home. I’ve been able to spread my wings, try something new, and go to a new state while still being able to go after a major that I really enjoy and have a lot of those Midwestern comforts as well,” she says.
Of all the “ambassadors” representing Purdue University, Hannah says the biggest one this past year has been former Purdue Men’s Basketball star Zach Edey, who lead the Boilermakers not only to the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 44 years, but to the National Championship game.
“I’ve actually quite a few students coming up during the National FFA Convention asking about Purdue basketball and about Zach Edey,” she says. “A lot of people are wondering if I’ve met him personally, which I have not, but I think it’s really good because it’s a topic to break the ice. It brings students into our booth, so I’m grateful to our sports teams for bringing some national attention to Purdue because it lets us start those conversations, and then we can start to ask them about their interests and help them realize majors and opportunities that they might not even known that we had.”
To learn more about Purdue’s College of Agriculture, visit their website—Ag.Purdue.edu.
CLICK BELOW to hear Hannah Kramer share her passion for Purdue University’s College of Agriculture with Hoosier Ag Today’s C.J. Miller.
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