I knew I wanted to get a part-time job while in high school to save money for a car when I turned 16. I thought I would enjoy working at a local bakery–the owners are family friends and we love buying their baked goods to celebrate every family birthday! So, I went to the bakery one morning during the summer and told them I was looking for a part-time job. They agreed to let me work at the front counter that summer. I started tracking my hours and income and, when school started back up in the fall, I continued working after school and on the weekends.

After working at the counter for a while, I started asking a lot of questions about how the owners developed the recipes our custom-ers enjoy so much. The owners realized my interest and started letting me help them in the kitchen on Saturday mornings. I started noticing how much of a difference it makes to carefully selecting the right ingredients, like flour. Now, they let me try different brands and types of ingredients to identify possible ways of improv-ing their products. I have so much fun experi-menting with the recipes!

While working at the counter, I found some cus-tomers liked to ask a lot of questions about the baked goods before deciding on their orders. As I relayed their questions to the bakery owners, the owners started thinking they would like to create an environment at the bakery that teaches customers what is in the baked goods. I thought that sounded fun and volunteered to design a display that demonstrates how flour is produced. Working with my agricultural educa-tion instructor, we identified a Training Plan that incorporated the skills necessary to promote consumer confidence. My employers agreed to support the plan and my Placement SAE became an Internship SAE. That project turned into ongoing efforts to help the bakery create materials and fun events to teach customers about the ingredients in the recipes. We even found opportunities to source ingredi-ents straight from the community, like making our jams and jellies using fruits from nearby produce farms!

I had no idea I would enjoy marketing so much, but I have had so much fun helping the bakery figure out marketing strategies that would show customers where the ingredients come from. I think I want to pursue agricultural marketing as a career, so I can continue the type of work I’ve been doing at the bakery with other agricultural businesses.