The national beef checkoff, through its Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative (NEBPI) and in partnership with the Pennsylvania Beef Council (PBC), hosted an interactive leadership training with Millennial students on Thursday, November 10, at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture building in Harrisburg, PA.
The event was part of the beef checkoff’s Millennial to Millennial (M2M) Advocate Program, which aims to identify young adults with a passion to advocate for the beef community within the commonwealth and the northeast United States. This team of Millennial advocates will help to educate consumers about beef at large consumer expos and events throughout the year.
Four Pennsylvania State University students and two Delaware Valley University students attended the day-long training and learned how to better create open and positive dialogue surrounding beef. John Park, D.Ed, Director with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP and David Wolfgang, VMD, Director with Bureau of Animal Health & Diagnostic Services joined beef council staff to help facilitate the program which included an inspirational talk on why advocacy is important, how to build a leadership brand and tackling tough questions.
Dr. Park shared great insights with the students throughout the day, commenting, “The more you can build skills now, the more you can build opportunities for the future”. One cornerstone thought that resonated with the group, was tuning into other people’s viewpoints, enabling students to make a connection and build trust when sharing the positive beef message.
The students also had the honor of visiting with Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary for Animal Health and Food Safety, Gregory Hostetter. Deputy Hostetter joined the students for lunch and emphasized the importance of getting out and engaging with our consumers.
New this year, M2M Program participants will be partnered with M2M Alumni, who have participated in the program last year to gain insight from their past experiences. Together this group of new advocates and alumni will promote beef across the commonwealth and the northeast United States. Tarrah Freund, 2016 PA Beef Ambassador and Kara Zolocsik, M2M Alumni student, joined the 2016-2017 team for an engaging day of leadership development.
For more information about the M2M program, visit www.nebpi.org and the NEBPI Facebook page. For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com. For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
Media Contacts: Jennifer Orr, 814-623-2698; jorr@pabeef.org.
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The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Internal links within this document are funded and maintained by the Beef Checkoff. All other outgoing links are to websites maintained by third parties.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program