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Premier Hosts Two Penn State Externs

January 18, 2023January 12, 2024
Premier Hosts Two Penn State Externs

Premier was excited to host Abigail O’Shell and Haley Weidman, two Penn State externs, the first week of January. The students spent a week of their winter break job shadowing different employees of Premier Select Sires and learning about the cooperative. Thank you to these exceptional students for visiting with us, and thank you to all of the staff and members who helped provide an educational, fun experience for Abigail and Haley! Learn more about the students below.

Abigail O’Shell

  • Hometown: Hummelstown, PA
  • Year in college: Junior, graduating May 2024
  • Major: Animal Science
  • Minor: Wildlife and Fisheries Science
  • Activities: Block and Bridle Club, Colligate Cattlewomen, Agronomy Club, Dairy Science Club, Delta Theta Sigma
  • Experience: Current Penn State Swine Farm employee, former Milking Technician at Jubilee Dairy in Middletown PA, former Veterinary Assistant at Hershey Veterinary Hospital
  • Future plans: “I hope to come back to Premier and work as a repro technician breeding cows in hopefully my area or PA, and potentially have my own dairy farm.”
  • Takeaways or highlights from the externship: “I really liked being able to meet and interact with farmers and see all the different setups on the different farms, and being able to experience seeing new things and meeting people I never would have run into if it weren’t for this externship.”

Haley Weidman

  • Hometown: Oley, PA                      
  • Year in college: Junior, graduating in May 2024
  • Major: Animal Science
  • Minor: Agribusiness Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation with a Focus on Food and Bio Innovation
  • Activities: Block and Bridle Club, Collegiate Cattle Women Club, PA Sheep and Wool Growers Association, PA Corriedales Association (Vice President)
  • Experience: Former milker at Wholesome Dairy LLC in Douglassville PA, former flock managing assistant at Deturk Farm Corriedales in Oley PA, former veterinary technician assistant at Patt Veterinary Hospital in Gilbertsville PA
  • Future plans: “I would love the opportunity to work for a company like Premier Select Sires. I would like to possibly be in a Dairy Coordinator role or start out as a technician part time and see where that takes me.”
  • Takeaways or highlights from the externship: “I really enjoyed riding along with the people and appreciate how welcoming and understanding they are, and how they want to get to know you and are so open to helping you understand what they do on a daily basis. And the customers were so nice too.”