POUL 5020 Writing Assignment 1

I am currently enrolled in POUL 5020 during my second semester of my junior year at Auburn University. POUL 5020 is the animal feed manufacturing course. Throughout this class I will learn about the different kinds of feeds that are made in the agricultural industry as a whole. These different industries range from dairy, beef, swine, aqua culture, poultry, and more. Even though I am majoring in Poultry Science, I am very excited to learn and see about other industries and how they manufacture their feed.

Why am I taking this course? I guess the first reason I am taking this course is because it was recommended to me by my advisor as a great elective to take. I also work for the Auburn University Poultry Science Research Farm at the Nutrition Center, which is where we have our feed mill, and I enjoy learning as much about the feed mill and how it operates. I talked with a few students who had previously taken this course and I never got a bad review about it being overly difficult or unfair. Everyone said that if you read your notes and stay on top of the material that you will learn valuable information and do well on the exams. The second reason I am taking this course is because I know this course contains information that I cannot get in any other course at Auburn. I would hate to miss out on all of the valuable knowledge that I can use later in my life during my career.

I would like to get more knowledge on the actual nutritional values of different ingredients and why they are valuable to the agricultural industry. I have little background knowledge on the ingredients, standards, restrictions, and processes that are commonly used in the many different agricultural industries. I believe this course will teach me and allow me to learn what I do not know. While I do work at the feed mill, I have yet to get a firm understanding of all the aspects. I believe that this course could compliment my work at the feed mill and I could be of more value at my workplace.

During this course I plan to take the information I obtain here and use it to further my progress outside of Auburn. I hope that I can use the knowledge I gain with this course well into my chosen career and better the poultry industry along the way. I may work with or for a feed mill during my career and I feel like I should have this knowledge in my back pocket. Many people did not have the opportunity for a feed mill course in their college career and I plan to make good use of my opportunity. If I do not take my college career seriously, why should a company want to seriously consider hiring me? I hope to make the most of each and every opportunity to learn throughout this course.