On a humid April morning in 2023, I nervously adjusted my blue corduroy jacket as I approached the BASF Sustainability Center with my 2022-23 National FFA Officer teammate, Karstyn Cantrell, for one of the first corporate partner visits of my year of service. What I had anticipated to be a typical meeting quickly turned into something far more memorable.
After being greeted by dozens of welcoming faces, Karstyn and I were asked to judge the BASF FFA Alumni and Supporters’ “Shark Tank” competition, where employees pitched innovative products they were working on. Energized by the morning’s fruitful conversations about BASF’s work, I journaled how much I enjoyed the visit, ending the entry with, “I loved the people at BASF. I plan to stay in touch because maybe one day I will want to work there.”
Fast forward to summer 2024, and that’s exactly what I did. I found myself living 20 hours away from my home state of Texas for a commercial business internship at BASF Agricultural Solutions’ headquarters in North Carolina. Over 13 remarkable weeks, I worked on the sustainability team, developing a position recommendation for sustainable trade and providing analysis for a future product launch. As I dove into these topics and collaborated with colleagues from across the world, the role also took me across North America for conferences in San Diego, California, and Saskatoon, Canada, that deepened my understanding of sustainability and international trade.
While I grew in understanding these topics, the most impactful part of my internship was the community I found. My mentors, Jessica Monserrate and Ray Daniels, took hours out of their already busy schedules to talk through my career goals, challenge my assumptions about myself and the workplace, and ensure that I felt at home in my new environment.
Reflecting on the internship, I realize that Jessica and Ray were not the exception but just two of many BASF employees who invested in me over the summer. It was common for me to leave meetings with a list of names an employee had suggested for me to contact to discuss my dreams of working in agricultural policy. The intern community was another highlight — we regularly shared meals and discussed the wins and challenges of our projects. I even got involved with the BASF FFA Alumni and Supporters chapter, bringing it back to where it all began by meeting with state FFA officers and judging a public speaking contest at the North Carolina FFA Convention.
While, yes, my internship with BASF shaped my understanding of sustainability, policy, and international trade, its impact extended far beyond technical knowledge. Most of all, BASF embodied the workplace culture I hope to experience throughout my career: one where colleagues collaborate instead of compete, giving back to your community is not only encouraged but also modeled by leadership, and everyone is united under a shared goal—doing it for the love of farming, the biggest job on Earth. I chose to work at BASF because I felt there was something special about the people who call it home, and my internship proved this to be true.
This spring, I will graduate from Texas A&M University and move to Washington, D.C., where I will begin my career in agricultural policy. Though I won’t be working at BASF, I hope my career path leads me back to the company. Through it all, I’ll remember how the summer shaped me and how the people at BASF selflessly invested in me.
To learn more about interning at BASF, visit https://www.basf.com/global/en/careers/students/internship.
