Celina Robinson, spent the summer interning in Kansas Natural Resources Conservation Service. This was her third year as a college intern in the 1890 National Scholars Program. The program bolsters educational and career opportunities for college students from rural or underserved communities.
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, KANSAS, September 11, 2024 – Celina Robinson, a senior at Delaware State University, spent the summer of 2024 interning in Kansas with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This was her third year as a college intern in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 1890 National Scholars Program. The program aims to bolster educational and career opportunities for college students from rural or underserved communities around the country. It was established in 1992 in partnership between the USDA and 1890 land-grant universities, including Robinson’s own Delaware State University and is managed by the USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE). Robinson grew up in the southwest corner of Michigan, in Berrien County. She did not come from an agricultural background but became exposed to it through her high school Future Farmers of America (FFA) program during her sophomore year at Countryside Academy.
“I was introduced to a lot of different competitions, such as Agriculture issues and Agriculture demonstrations. I helped with raising broiler chickens and rabbits, and I was able to work for a vegetable farmer,” Robinson said. “I just fell in love with agriculture and
everything that it entails.”
Like many highschoolers interested in agricultural careers, exposure to FFA programs and forums gave Robinson the confidence she needed to seriously pursue an ag degree.
“After my senior year of high school, I was able to get into the 1890 Scholars program. One of my neighbors works for NRCS, and he told me about it,” Robinson said. “He is also black, and being a minority in agriculture, there are not many opportunities for us. He said if I wanted to go into this and was serious about it, that this was the program for me.”
Many scholarship awardees, Robinson included, gained work experience with the USDA. During the summer of 2024, Robinson interned with NRCS in Reno County, Kansas, at the South Hutchinson Field Office. She also interned for ten weeks in Saline County at the Kansas State Office, and in Douglas County at the Lawrence Field Office during the summer of 2022 and 2023 respectively.
“Kansas is a diverse landscape. In every county, there are different conservation practices and concerns that we focus on,” Robinson said. “Last year when I was in Lawrence, there were a lot of producers who needed terraces or waterways, but here concerns involve getting water. Here we focus on our watering facilities, fencing and rangeland management. In Hutchinson, we don’t have enough water. In Lawrence, there’s too much."
“I do a lot of reading up on specs and the practices we offer, to just try and understand them,” Robinson said. “We have been out in the field doing basically everything a soil conservationist does. Soil conservationists create conservation plans for producers or landowners. I feel like I have done a lot of fieldwork, but I also understand that being in the field is not all of what the job entails. I want my goal for the rest of my time here to be understanding the process of it all.”
In the spring of 2025 Robinson will complete her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with a
concentration in Agricultural Business and hopes to return to the USDA NRCS after graduation. “Working for NRCS gives you great exposure to agriculture and the challenges that farmers face on a day-to-day basis,” Robinson said. “Being able to think like a farmer or an agency employee gives you a very different perspective on how you see agriculture. We need people in agriculture, and I feel like there is a lot of personal gratification from working with producers. At the end of the day, we are helping to feed families. Without agriculture, there is no food.”
For more information about the USDA 1890 National Scholars Program, visit https://www.usda.gov/partnerships/1890NationalScholars.
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