Christina Andeweg

Going into the week, I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of the opportunities within the state of Iowa, mainly the Des Moines area. This week convinced me otherwise. Not only did I learn a lot more about the Des Moines area, my eyes were also opened to the vast opportunities available throughout the rest of the state of Iowa.

Today, we learned a ton about all of the opportunities in getting involved with agriculture in the state of Iowa. Growing up in Des Moines, I haven’t had very much exposure to the agricultural side of Iowa and the multitude of opportunities it provides for the citizens of Iowa. Today’s speakers helped me to realize the diversity of jobs within agriculture in our state and how agriculture also connects to many other industries in Iowa.

One of the biggest challenges I see in Iowa is the disconnect between the larger cities and the rural areas, especially with young people. I’m not sure if this disconnect is reciprocal, as I only have experienced a sort of ignorance coming from the big city side of what exists in Iowa outside of Des Moines. I’ve lived in the Des Moines metropolitan area for my entire life, and have not had much of an opportunity to experience small town life. With the exception of my paternal grandparents living in Pella, all of my other extended family members currently living in Iowa live in larger cities like Ames and Davenport. Even with my frequent contact with citizens of the more rural town of Pella, I still have felt that I don’t know very much about other parts of our states and about the huge agriculture market in our state. Because of Pella’s proximity to Des Moines, though, I feel as though it is not holistically rural because they have easy access to the resources in the capital.

A sentiment that I have seen to be common among many of my peers who have also grown up in the Des Moines area, admittedly including myself, is a sort of apathy towards the smaller, more rural communities in our own state. Even further, I would be apt to say that there may even be a sort of prejudice towards people living in these rural areas. I think what Iowa needs to do to eradicate these preconceived notions is to provide opportunities for young people to connect with people who have grown up in completely different communities to learn about how similar their lives really are. Although it is certainly true that both the larger metropolitan areas of the state and the rural areas both depend on each other greatly to make Iowa the success that it is, the larger cities’ dependence on the rural areas is less evident to young people. Because of this, I think it is important for young people to learn about how important the rural areas of our state are to us to fully appreciate the state in its entirety.

The one thing that stood out to me when visiting Pella Corp. was the strong sense of community throughout the entire company. Although there are the inevitable hierarchies in the working side of the company, I got the sense that no matter what your position is within the company, you will still get your voice heard. This was evident in the way that the managers were held accountable for every suggestion put up on the suggestion board, which I thought was really cool. Even though the managers are technically required to care for their employees by taking into consideration their suggestions, it was obvious that they truly did care for the well being of their employees. I saw this when our tour guide Dale greeted many of the floor employees by name and asked how they were doing. This company has an unmistakable pride in every single one of their employees, which contributes to their strong sense of community.

The greatest asset I have to contribute to the future success of Iowa is my constant desire to learn and my openness to learning about opposing ideas. In today’s business world, everyone needs to be able to adapt quickly, and if you are unable listen to other people’s ideas adapting will be impossible. When working with a group, I always want to get everyone’s input because I know that it will benefit the entire group. To achieve success for yourself and for the larger group you are a part of you cannot be completely independent. There will be many points in your career that you have to depend on others’ expertise to further the success of the group. Being a part of Leadership Iowa University, I have already learned my strengths when working with others, and this will help me to be able to contribute to the success of Iowa. Although the assessment did not tell us our weaknesses, we will be able to play off the obvious strengths of others in order to achieve success. Although I don’t know exactly where I want my career path to head, I do know that I want to help others and help to make sure that everyone’s opinion and input is heard. To do so, I will need to learn what opinions others hold, and I will be able to do this easily because I have a desire to do so. Being close-minded in today’s society will not get you very far, and I will contribute to the success of Iowa by having an open mind to opposing opinions and being flexible.