Career path found at ag campus

Career path found at ag campus

Sophie Nutter is an agribusiness management major at NCTA. (Stinman photo / NCTA News)
Sophie Nutter is an agribusiness management major at NCTA. (Stinman photo / NCTA News)

Sept. 3, 2020

By Mary Crawford, NCTA News

Originally, Sophie Nutter of Ragan, Nebraska was going to study elementary education. She enrolled in two different colleges, trying to find the “right fit.”

Then, in her third year as an education major, she discovered another career avenue. One that met her passion.

A classmate from Wilcox-Hildreth High School invited Nutter to explore programs at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis.

“I always planned to have cattle, so when I lost interest in teaching I thought why not just get out of my comfort zone and do what I really want to do!” Nutter says.

She officially became an NCTA Aggie in fall, 2019.  After two semesters, Sophie was named Outstanding First-year Student for 2019-2020 in Agribusiness Management Systems.

In her first year, Nutter was one of the two campus student photographers. She helped with recruiting at high schools and giving campus tours (pre-COVID), then turned to agribusiness projects as campus offices reopened over the summer.

Majoring in agribusiness still with an interest in animal sciences, she has a full course load. Nutter continues as a student worker in the agribusiness office for her professor and mentor, Mary Rittenhouse.

On Wednesday, Nutter was elected to leadership positions in two of her favorite organizations, as president of Women in Ag and vice president of the Ag Business Club.

Recently, she entered a campus contest seeking a theme for NCTA’s 2020-21 Discovery Days, open house events for prospective students. Nutter submitted 10 ideas, leaning on her first-year experiences.

“NCTA: Where your passion becomes a career” became her winning entry.

Discovery Days will be October 6 and November 10, then March 2 and April 12, 20121, said NCTA’s Gaylene Stinman, enrollment associate.

“Sophie’s idea for a passion becoming a career ideally portrays what NCTA is all about,” Stinman said. “The entire campus connects and helps our NCTA students to reach academic success and rewarding careers.”

 At Discovery Day, parents and students tour campus and residence halls, learn about financial aid and admissions, and can meet faculty and Aggie students as they participate in the interactive classes at one of the four academic areas – agribusiness management, agronomy/ag mechanics, animal science/ag education, and veterinary technology.

See https://ncta.unl.edu/discovery-days for registration and program details any of the Discovery Days.

There is a good chance one of the Aggie students greeting visitors will be a friendly face saying, “NCTA: Where your passion becomes a career!”                          

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