OALP XIX Seminar 12

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Seminar 12 kicked off in Stillwater with a presentation from Anthony Cambas about global marketing and its importance to the United States. He explained the different types of exports and imports in global marketing and some of the strategy’s countries use.

Then, our group presentations started with a presentation about the geography and climate of Chile. Adam, Kendal, Lee and Mark all explained the different climates and geography that Chile has and the types that we will encounter on our trip. Kendal explained the ways to help us pack light and how to handle jet lag when traveling a long distance. The next group explained the topics of health and education of Chile. Courtney informed everyone of health care and insurance options that Chile has along with the increasing number of students exploring higher education. Greg explained housing and its cost along with growing health concerns and things to watch out for while in Chile. Steven wrapped things up with vaccinations and other medicines we may need while traveling to Chile and explained how to properly travel with prescriptions from the U.S.

After a delicious lunch, Dr. Jason Kirksey gave the group a presentation over diversity. He taught us how we can promote inclusion by listening, learning, respecting and being empathetic of others. He also explained the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone in order to grow and expand.

Dr. Rod Hall wrapped up our afternoon presentations with the topic of animal health issues and concerns overseas. Dr. Hall covered some of the human diseases we could encounter during our travels along with food borne diseases. He stressed the importance of biosecurity during our trip to Chile. He finished by giving us ways to protect ourselves from diseases and ways to keep from bringing any foreign animal disease back to the U.S.

We ended the day with our community service project at Our Daily Bread in Stillwater. We were able to help them organize and clean the warehouse and stock the shelves in the grocery store.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

On Thursday morning, we enjoyed hearing more from each other on a variety of topics related to our upcoming trip to Chile. Class members presented on transportation, communications, infrastructure, economics, agriculture, culture, religion, government and military. After hearing the presentations and receiving notes from each of the groups, we were all excited and better prepared for our trip.

Following lunch, the class had the opportunity to hear in depth about the work done at Proagrica. Bill Richardson, Justin Street, Sarah Stueber and fellow class member Nina Wise presented to us. We learned that Proagrica (formerly SST Software) was started in 1996 by Dr. David Waits with four other people. SST was bought by Proagrica in 2018. There are two sides to the business: agronomy solutions and enterprise solutions. Through their platform, they work to standardize the data from farms and fields. With this, they can help producers tell their story using their information. Recently, they helped Corteva build their new program called LandVisor. 

Following the Proagrica presentation, Sarah Stueber (OALP Class XVIII) told us about the OALP alumni program, Agricultural Leadership of Oklahoma.  There was much interest generated by the presentation and prompted conversations the next day about how our class can help shape ALO’s future. 

The next stop was to the Charles & Linda Cline Equine Teaching Center at OSU. Dr. Kris Hiney, OSU Extension equine specialist, talked about the Oklahoma horse industry. We learned there are 251,000 horses in Oklahoma (2017) and Oklahoma is fifth in horse population behind Texas, California, Florida and Ohio. Most horses in Oklahoma are recreational, particularly showing and racing. Of the horses in Oklahoma, 40% are quarter horses and 17% are thoroughbreds. Three percent of the Oklahoma population own horses. The total economic impact of the Oklahoma horse industry is $3,900,000,000 and 36,000 jobs.

That evening, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the home of Randy and Mary Wedel, sponsored by National Livestock Credit Corporation and Debbie Wedel. The class enjoyed visiting with the Wedel family and having fellowship with one another.

Friday, January 17, 2020

On the last day of our seminar, we stayed the entirety of it in the State Room at the Wyndham Garden Hotel. The first speaker of the day was Emeritus Professor Dr. Sue Williams. She was very entertaining and came into the room with her travel bag packed and ready to go to Chile. She walked us through some helpful travel tricks that were practical and easy to implement. 

Next we heard from the Dean of Global Education at Northern Oklahoma College, Mr. Wade Watkins. He spoke to us about why global education is important. He presented us with great real-world knowledge about his travels and how the world works outside the U.S. when it comes to traveling abroad.

The last speaker of the day was Karen Distefano, who shared with us about the culture of Chile. She has been to Chile quite a few times with her church for missions and disaster relief. The information she gave was very helpful. We left seminar 12 feeling much excitement for our upcoming trip to Chile!