Exploring real-world careers with ACES

Having opportunities to expand my professional network outside of campus has been one of the most valuable aspects of my student career in the College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences. 

This March, I had the privilege of joining students from four different Agricultural and Consumer Economics classes to attend the third-annual Chicago field trip. The goal: learning about the diverse food and agribusiness career opportunities in the city. Meredith Blumthal, director of the Food and Agribusiness Management program, started this annual trip as a key part of the International Business Immersion Program (IBIP), an immersive, business-oriented travel abroad program offered by ACES. 

The day started as we loaded into two charter buses outside of the ACES library. From that moment on, the day hardly slowed down. We arrived in Chicago just in time for lunch at The Old Post Office, a food hall inside what used to be one of the world’s largest post offices, capable of sending 19 million pieces of mail daily. 

I enjoyed my meal with a new-found friend I met on the bus, along with a few other classmates. One of my favorite parts of this trip was connecting with current students from the other classes, and hearing about their experiences in the college of ACES. 

After lunch, each class attended a session pertaining to topics most relevant to their course.  

• Students in the Corporate Food Marketing course ventured to Home Chef. They learned from alumna Jennifer Helms, senior director of talent acquisition and HR programming, about Home Chef and Tempo meals and were tasked with a business case study applying their course concepts of food marketing, supply chains, and more to real world food system challenges. 
• The IBIP students connected with alumnus Brad Brinkley, who provided an overview of Morningstar Direct and curated a panel of early-career Illinois alums working at the company. The students also learned about Morningstar’s recruitment opportunities from Meredith Brinson, director of global career development and transformation, and Marie Trzupek Lynch, chief people officer.  
• Economics and Business of Sustainable Cocoa and Chocolate students were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the innovations in chocolate production and the benefits of an integrated cocoa supply chain at OFI (Olam Food Ingredients), with a tour led by Julia Schmidt, innovation scientist.  
• Farm Management and IBIP students visited CME Group, where they learned how futures markets can help producers manage uncertainty and risk in farming agricultural commodities. Sarah Dickey, manager product owner, explained the history of CME Group and why the Chicago Board of Trade was founded in Illinois in 1848. 
   

Following the presentations, all four classes reconvened at the University of Illinois alumni center to meet alumni from the Chicago area. This was another highlight from the trip for me, getting to learn about what an ACE major in action really looks like. Everyone's story and journey is so unique, but we are all connected by our time on campus as part of the College of ACES. 

I think one of the most special parts of this trip was everyone experiencing something completely different, depending on who you talked with on the bus, at lunch, and the alumni gala. 

I am grateful for opportunities like this, made possible by ACES faculty who invest their time and energy into creating meaningful, real-world experiences for students. It’s one thing to learn about careers in the classroom, but it’s another to see them first-hand.