News

Students, alumni and employers alike converged on the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus for its 9^th annual AggieWIL Internship and Career Fair last week with nearly 400 students in attendance.

The event provides an opportunity for both students and faculty to connect with employers and learn about summer employment, internships and career opportunities.

“I am excited to say the event gets better every year,” said Joy Galloway-Jones, Senior Instructor – internship program.  “It started in 2017 with less than 15 employers and around 100 students.  I look forward to seeing it continue to grow and provide a space for students to make valuable career connections.”

More than 200 Faculty of Agriculture students as well as 185 high school students from Pugwash, Advocate Harbour, Northumberland, Trenton Alternative and CEC interacted with close to 50 exhibitors.

Alum Alec Huestis, (Class of ’24) was on-site recruiting for internships within McCain.

“We’re looking for agriculture interns, which is basically what I did last year, in Grand Falls” he explained. “Its on the agronomy side of things, scouting fields, conducting different tests, seed-size evaluation. It’s a great job and a great opportunity,” he added.

Second-year Plant Science diploma student Kayla Cormier., worked over the summer with McCain and hopes it will open doors for her.

“I worked last summer with McCain on the farm and stayed on to help with harvest,” she explained.    Over Christmas break and fall reading week I was able to help with research on potatoes that were harvested and this past reading week I was able to help prepare for this planting season,” she added. “Once you begin with McCain there is a lot of opportunity to continue growing.”

This year organizers were grateful to the Department of Agriculture for their sponsorship in providing the opportunity for several area high schools to attend the event.  

Career Promotions Coordinator Lisa Patton participated with the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture for the first time along with alum Jacquelyn Hoyt, (Class of ’04, ’07) with Agriculture in the Classroom.

“We feel its important to expose everyone to the possible careers in agriculture and we were happy to help with bussing outlying high school students to the event as well,” she said.” We want to ensure that graduates are always aware of what’s available to them within our department.”

Abby Moir, Community Education Student Intern and Dalhousie Agricultural Students’ Association VP of Finance and Operations said, “It was a great opportunity for high school students to be able to connect with businesses and meet with academic departments that interested them.”

Kayla Graham, (Class of ’15) and Hayley Fulton, Faculty of Science (Class of ’22) who are regional program coordinators with 4-H Nova Scotia, were recruiting for eight summer assistant positions available in both Truro and across the province.

Christina White HR Manager from Mowi Canada East, a salmon farming aquaculture company headquartered in Norway, felt it was important to attend as Dal is the only aquaculture school on the East Coast of Canada.

“We frequently recruit students to start in entry-level jobs as farm technicians, hatchery technicians and sometimes in fish health as well as veterinary staff.,” she explained.  “Our technicians are out on the field doing plankton testing, water chemistry testing, lice counts and so on.  We need quite a few students this season in Newfoundland.”

It was the first time participating in the Career Fair for Katherine Pike and Nikki Langille of the Native Council of Nova Scotia.  Nikki is the Clean Energy Facilitator and is focussed on promoting indigenous representation with the Green Workforce.

“We talked to quite a few students, other vendors and some of the faculty,” she said.  “I know they're busing in a few high schools as well so there was a definite effort made to get people here.”