Greetings! It is my pleasure to bring to your attention many exciting things that happened over the months of April and early part of May. I am truly sorry for being a week late sending vol. 7 of the Pioneer Junction. Recently, we held the Ag Banquet hosted by Ag Student Council to award the scholarships to students in the School of Agriculture. Ag council leadership did a great job of conducting the event. Numerous awards were given out with great support from the donors. I would like to thank all of the donors for your support to the School of Agriculture programs. From corporates to individuals, families, and foundations. You give us much with kind hearts and provide generous gifts and donations to support student education. Thank you! Based on Ag Student Council and faculty & staff nominations, the following awards were given on the banquet night: School of Agriculture (SOA) outstanding Advisor Dr. Rick Bockhop, SOA Outstanding Staff Sara Whitaker, and SOA Outstanding Faculty Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga. Congratulations to all! Several alumni and visitors came to the School of Agriculture last month. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Chris Keil, Jason Studnicka, John Rosenow of COWSMO, Tim Omer of Emmi Roth, and Senator Howard Marklein. We were honored to have Dr.Temple Grandin as the distinguished speaker that addressed campus community. This event was wildly successful and she inspired many.  From student club standpoint, Pioneer Dairy club went to California and competed in Dairy Challenge competition. NAMA (National Agri-Marketing Association) reached finals at the national competition. We are proud of our students that competed & achieved good results. Farm Bureau had drawn the interest of many students on campus about agriculture by hosting Ag Day On Campus. The Ag Student Ambassadors went to few area high schools to promote and recruit students. In this edition, you will see Sarah Strathman, Sam Grams, and many students. Sophomore student, Eva Birtell received a prestigious NASA internship for this summer. She is the youngest member (sophomore) to work on the plant sciences project along with four other students selected in the nation. Jessica Helwig is heading to the prestigious Cornell University for her summer internship to do research in plant pathology.  With commencement over the weekend, the campus will be busy with families & friends of the graduating students. Also, many of the SOA students will leave for summer internships at the end of May. On a somber note, I bring to your attention that Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga will be leaving the agribusiness program in the School of Agriculture. We are going to miss her as she is heading to lead and inspire students at another institution of higher education. She has received several internal, state, and national awards for her dedication to teaching, advising, and service to the students. Her services to the university are tremendous. We recognize and thank her for many years of service, especially for making NAMA club a great force at the national level. We wish her all the best in her future plans. The search of an Agribusiness assistant professor resulted in an excellent candidate. We are accepting Dr. Julie Vander Wilt, as s new faculty member joining the agribusiness program beginning Fall-2018. Welcome Dr. Julie! Many exciting things are happening. Soon STFL (short term faculty led), education abroad program, will be leaving to the Netherlands where 16 students will be traveling to explore Dutch agriculture with Dr. Cartmill. Record number of new STFL’s are proposed from the SOA this year. Costa Rica, Spain, Thailand and New Zealand study abroad programs will become available to students during Winterim 2018/2019 and summer 2019. From student managed business standpoint, Pioneer Farm staff has built the compost bagging system. This year we will bag some compost and do the test marketing.   I was busy with conducting several senior exit interviews to learn about the strengths and weakness of the School of Agriculture programs. Students were honest and candid in telling me about SOA programs, people and the facilities. I heard many positive comments. At the Ag Banquet night, I uttered the word: KAIZEN. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means small, constant & continuous improvements towards positive change in order to move in a positive direction. Our single aim or focus is to create a world-class School of Agriculture. After one year into directorship, my confidence has grown much. All we need is to have a right frame of mind and dedication towards work. We will achieve greatness. How do we become the best and excellent? I believe we need to control our destiny, be self-reliant, focus on objectives and move with unwavering commitment. We have to cultivate winning attitudes and deliver great service. Self-reliance, as we in the past have caused ourselves to be what we are now and by what we do now, will our future be determined. A knowledge of this fact and that the glory of the future is limitless, gives us great self-reliance. At a personal level, my motto for the year-2018 is to “Engage, Equip and Empower” individuals. Enjoy reading about many accomplishments of our students in this edition. Next PJ will be coming in August/September, following the summer break. Finally, the student editor of Pioneer Junction, Allison Hahn is graduating. We extend our sincere congratulation and wish her well. We thank Allison for starting and bringing several editions of the Pioneer Junction during 2017-2018.  Enjoy your Summer!