in Monte Cristi where he worked
with an organization called
Outreach360, an immersion-based
program that teaches English to
children.
“They typically do lessons in
the classroom, but since we were
there during their winter break
as well, we got to hold a camp in
the community center,” Sam says. and junior years in college, Sam
studied abroad in Costa Rica for
four weeks. “I took two courses,
sustainable agriculture and tropical
forestry, at E.A.R.T.H (Escuela de
Agricultura de la Region Tropical
Humeda) University,” he explains.
“I got to travel across most of the
country to tour farms and to go
into the rainforests to collect data. through the labor he performed
which had a big impact on his
education. “The first was with the
Soybean Breeding and Genetics
lab, and the second was a short
time with the Nematode lab,” he
says. “Both of these experiences
influenced my decision to stay in
life sciences and pursue additional
education.”
Sam began a Ph.D. program
in plant breeding, genetics and
genomics in the fall of 2018 at the
University of Georgia. There, Sam
is part of the Soybean Breeding
and Genetics lab, and he looks
forward to leading his own research
endeavors and learning from peers
over the next several years.
Following graduate school,
Sam hopes to pursue a career in
academia at a public institution. “I
really like the focus that academia
has on training and discovery, and
I want to continue to be a part of
this,” he says.
“Camp was a little less structured
than classroom lessons, so we got
to be creative with how we would
incorporate English into the fun.”
In addition to those service
experiences, Sam completed
two internships while at MU.
Both were researched-based
opportunities with DuPont Pioneer
(now Corteva). The first internship
was at a corn breeding station in
Miami, Missouri, while the second
was at a station in Woodland,
California, that mostly focused on
drought stress in corn.
Between his sophomore EARTH University is unique
because students come from over
40 countries to attend, so I made
a few friends from across the globe
that I still keep in touch with.”
Sam says he enhanced his
knowledge of tropical fruit
production in both conventional
and organic systems while there in
addition to learning more about
what he can do as a consumer to
promote sustainable practices in
the vulnerable region.
As an undergrad student at
MU, Sam worked in two research
labs and says he learned a lot schafer townsend — king
18 HEARTBEAT | WINTER 2018
city
Having received a bachelor’s
in agricultural business and
animal science in May 2017 from
NWMSU, Schafer currently works
in loan operations, compliance and
credit analysis for Independent
Farmers Bank in Maysville.
While in college, Schafer
worked with Nodaway Valley
Feeders in Nodaway, Iowa, as a
feedlot management intern. He was
also a member of Alpha Gamma
Rho fraternity and Delta Tau
Alpha agricultural honor society.