Benjamin Cordivano, an undergraduate agricultural sciences student, has incorporated study abroad into his plans to return to his family’s mushroom farm in Chester County after graduation. After taking the Spanish course for ag students, he traveled to Costa Rica, Spain, and France to learn about mushroom farming operations. “Studying abroad has changed my outlook tremendously,” he says. “It’s given me an appreciation for cultures, languages, and life. Through my travels, I was able to focus on agriculture and specifically mushroom farming. In Europe, I studied commercial mushroom cultivation practices, comparing them to those of the United States. After I graduate and return to our family mushroom farm, I plan on integrating some of the business management and hygienic techniques into our operation.”

Students benefit in many ways from international study, including expanded knowledge, new ideas for careers, new relationships, different world views, and an edge on their resume. “College is the perfect time for an experience abroad because students are still forming their impressions about other people,” says Bruening. “They’re in a new place, in situations where they can make decisions and form opinions. When our students become linked with students in other countries, they develop relationships and transfer culture in a way that could never happen in a classroom. “Agriculture is merely the vehicle for all that to happen,” Bruening
continues, “and maybe it’s the best vehicle. What better issue to focus on than food— something everybody needs? How do we get food to people in a clean way, an environmentally appropriate way, and at a cost people can afford? This experience gives them a window they wouldn’t get any other way.”

Faculty and staff referenced in this article are Deanna Behring, the college’s director of international programs; Tom Bruening, associate professor of agricultural and extension education; Marilyn Corbin, Penn State Cooperative Extension associate director and state program leader for children, youth, and families; Connie Flanagan, professor of agricultural and extension education; Greg Hanson, professor of agricultural economics; Isabel Hanson, program coordinator for Latin America and Spanish FINPACK leader; Miguel Saviroff, extension educator in Somerset County; and Richard Stup, Dairy Alliance human resource specialist in dairy and animal science. Student Benjamin Cordivano is a senior majoring in agricultural sciences.