Yamaha's ACT Student Blogs

[justindavey]

Growing up on a family Jersey farm in rural Ontario, I learned the value of agriculture and the many principles that the farming lifestyle instills. Being the oldest son in my family, the responsibilities I was given made me into the person that I am today, and lead me to where I am now. Currently, I am a Marketing Management student at the University of Guelph and I keep the agricultural fires burning through my involvement as president of our CanACT club (the only Canadian chapter of ACT) and with my own personal business, Farm Boy Productions.

CanACT inspired me to apply for the Yamaha scholarship and through the scholarship, to attend the Agriculture Media Summit. Fortunately I won the video storyboarding portion of the competition due to my video experience which started in High School and from there, I eventually started a video production business in my first year of University.  This career path has also led me to my current  job creating videos and promoting research through the SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) program at  the University of Guelph. 

The Yamaha-ACT scholarship is a great opportunity to help me to further develop my skills in agricultural media and communications, as my chosen career path to pursue. The summit will be a phenomenal cultural experience, as well as a fun experience, for me to make memories and connections that will last a lifetime. The prospect of spending a week with like minded people all discussing the same Agricultural topics is something I have been looking forward to since I received word I had won the scholarship. 

I am also looking forward to the experience of visiting New Orleans, learning as much as I can at the summit, and expanding my personal knowledge and network. The sessions at the summit are all skill building opportunities for myself, especially the Light room and digital media ROI workshop, given my chosen field of study and work. 

The InfoExpo, hosted during of the summit will be a great chance for me to see how American companies communicate with their markets. As the single largest American gathering of agriculture communications specialist and agriculture companies, attending will be a personal first. Being a farm kid myself, I am looking forward to seeing the innovations and technologies displayed for the summit attendees. It will provide us a rich opportunity to report on the effect these companies will have in changing agriculture operations in the years to come. 

In the future, I look forward to using this opportunity as a resume builder  to further my business, or to further impress potential employers with. As the scholarship and announcement of my attendance has already attracted many in the Canadian agriculture industry to reach out in congratulations, I know the value of attending will be immense.

To wrap up my first blog post as part of the Yamaha intern team, I would like to say thank you to Yamaha and ACT for the opportunity, and I look forward to meeting everyone in New Orleans for what should be an amazing week. 

See you in NOLA!

Bruce 

Farm Boy Productions