Student Ambassadors | Crop Sciences

The Crop Sciences Student Ambassador Program is a volunteer student group composed of current undergraduate Crop Sciences students. Student Ambassadors serve as a resource to support undergraduate recruitment and provide feedback to improve the undergraduate student experience.

Below you’ll meet current Student Ambassadors. Read more about each one and learn about their student journey, including why they picked the Department of Crop Sciences!

Questions about our student ambassador program? Email ugrad@cropsciences.illinois.edu.

Jada Davis

Year in School: Freshman

Crop Sciences Major: Crop Agribusiness

Why did you pick the Department of Crop Sciences as your program of study?
I chose Crop Sciences from watching my dad work in the seed industry. From lots of impromptu job shadows with him, I found that I loved the balance of being in the office part of the time but also being in the field in the summer. I knew from my involvement in my high school’s FFA Chapter that I wanted to pursue agriculture and that I loved the crop side of the industry. Based on these two things combined I found my home in ACES Crop Science.

Jacob Felsman

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Protection

What is your favorite part of being a student in Crop Sciences?
FREE FOOD!! All jokes aside, the Crop Sciences department does provide really good food at events; however, it is not the only aspect that makes this major special! My overall favorite part of being a student in Crop Sciences is the newly renovated Turner Hall. The refurbished places' functionality provides environments great for learning and areas to catch up with friends or meet new people in between classes.

Alexandra Gomez

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Agroecology

What is one thing that you want people to know about Crop Sciences, the College of ACES, or the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign?
Crop Sciences and the industry of agriculture relate to every human being on this planet. Why, may you ask? Well, it is because we all need to eat. However, there are so many more aspects to where the food we eat comes from, and it can be explored in the College ACES, Department of Crop Sciences. The class sizes are smaller, and the students are more tight-knit. Everyone knows everyone, and we all work together to develop solutions to the problems the agricultural industry faces every day.

Andrew Malcomson

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Protection

What do you hope to do after you graduate?
Currently, I am planning to go to Grad School then working as an agronomist. I also plan on continuing to help grow our family farm.

Austin Parish

Year in School: Senior

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Biotechnology

Why did you pick the Department of Crop Sciences as your program of study?
I started at UIUC majoring in Nuclear Engineering but after my first semester, I decided it wasn’t the right fit for me. When I started my search for a new major, the Crop Sciences curriculum seemed like a good fit for me. I have been interested in genetics since my amazing 7th grade science teacher. I really knew that I had made the right choice after taking intro to crop sciences and intro to molecular biology, two fundamental courses that have helped me in the rest of my coursework.

Maisy Rathbun

Year in School: Freshman

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology concentration

Why did you pick the Department of Crop Sciences as your program of study?
My interest in agriculture began in high school, where I took AP Environmental Science and participated in Science Olympiad. During APES, I became more aware of the global climate crisis and the impacts of large scale conventional agriculture. My interest in biotechnology really began in Science Olympiad with the event Protein Modeling. When I found out about Crop Sciences, I knew I had found the perfect avenue to combine my interests and my desire to make a difference.

Sally Reed

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Protection

Why did you pick the Department of Crop Sciences as your program of study?
I picked the Dept. of CPSC as my program of study because the faculty genuinely wants to see students understand the information and succeed. The research opportunities are also very cool and open up the door to a multitude of possibilities for the future. I originally was going to study economics, but my love for science, spending summers working in the field, along with talking to CPSC faculty is why I switched.

Kayla Vittore

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Plant Biotechnology

What is your favorite part of being a student in Crop Sciences?
I love that Crop Sciences allows me to experience the close community of a small school simultaneously with the excitement of the UIUC large campus environment. Over the semesters you start to recognize other people from your major in your classes, which makes it easier to meet and keep in touch with classmates. Also, the professors are more willing to form a relationship with students and provide assistance, since the student-to-professor ratio is more balanced than in other departments. Yet being at UIUC, there’s still the opportunities to explore RSO’s, social events, or fun classes, something you can only experience at large universities. To me, being in Crop Sciences at UIUC means living in the best of both worlds.

Bailey Wight

Year in School: Junior

Crop Sciences Major: Biological Sciences

Many students currently attending a smaller college institution, such as community college, often worry about the size of classes and the larger campus that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers. What’s something you’d tell students with similar concerns?
I was definitely worried about the larger class sizes and not being able to build a relationship with my teachers or other students since I didn't really know what to expect the first semester I was here, but I was very surprised. The classes that I have been in so far are structured so that you can be in smaller groups of students and have the opportunity to talk one-on-one with teachers. For me, this is a very important part of how I learn, by talking through things with others. With that being said, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't be worried about the larger class sizes, because they have structure and the availability to ask questions without feeling overwhelmed by class size.