Final year students studying BSc in Agricultural Science, BSc in Agriculture and BSc in Land Management at SETU attended a careers day last month.
The soon-to-graduate students were told about the wide variety of opportunities in the agri food sector. These opportunities are plentiful for talented and energetic graduates.
At a very lively event which took place in the SETU Arena, a positive message ran through all of the talks and into the networking session afterwards.
The event kicked off with an inspiring speech from SETU president, Prof Veronica Campbell, who told the students in attendance about her own career path and shared some excellent advice about how careers are not always linear in their direction, but with persistence and hard work, you can achieve great things.
After this talk, the Una McDermott award for contribution to science was presented to Tony Pettit, former director of Kildalton College and also former Teagasc head of education, in recognition of his enormous contribution to agricultural education in Ireland over his 38-year career.
In his comments, SETU School of Science head Prof Peter McLoughlin said: "Tony had shaped and focused agricultural education both in the Teagasc system and also beyond through his always positive interactions with other third level institutes and universities".
Further talks from Niall Laffan (Germinal), Heather Peppard (Brett Bros) and David Corbett (Grassland Agro) followed, with each speaker giving the students key pieces of information and advice from their own experience.
The final part of the day involved a networking session. Companies from across the region met with the SETU final year students to discuss opportunities that exist in their organisations. Feedback from students and companies alike was extremely positive.
After two years running the event online, everyone agreed that it was fantastic to be back in the room, making introductions and meeting new people – people who might well play a key role in shaping the careers of the final year students of 2023.
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