When Van Spencer accepted a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management May 16 at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s spring commencement, it brought him a step closer to his career aspirations. The future entrepreneur aims to operate his own garden center or plant nursery.
“Business interested me, but I also wanted to learn about plant science,” Spencer said on selecting agribusiness as his major.
The field, he said, ranges from “learning what plants need to grow aside from sun and water to precision agriculture and how to implement it properly.”
Spencer, who calls Marion Station in Somerset County, Maryland, home, chose the convenience, affordability and personal attention the nearby 1890 land-grant university could provide.
He credits his academic success to the small faculty-to-student ratio that allowed for the mentorship of Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences faculty like research assistant professor Corrie Cotton, chair and professor Stephan Tubene, and his advisor and professor of applied economics and data science Yeong Chi. Classmates and the university’s math lab staff also helped him along the road.
“Without everyone’s guidance I would have been lost and possibly dropped out or failed,” he said.
Spencer is now equipped with the knowledge and skills to run his own agribusiness with the “freedom to make decisions based on what I feel is correct from my intuition rather than doing something because someone else says so.”
Gail Stephens, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, gcstephens@umes.edu, 410-621-3850.
Photos by Todd Dudek, agricultural communications, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, UMES Extension, tdudek@umes.edu.
