Sampson Community College, in partnership with Smithfield Foods, is working to plant the seeds for an agricultural career early, with its new SEED Agriculture Pre-Apprenticeship Academy.

SEED stands for Southeastern Education and Economic Development. “It was a seed that was planted by Smithfield Foods,” explained Chris Stroud, department chair of agribusiness and animal science technology at SCC. “It’s an initiative to jump start young minds into a community college setting.”

The SEED Academy was started to give students internship opportunities to advance their education, he added. “It was an outstanding program this summer,” he told the SCC Board of Trustees at the Sept. 9 meeting. “The reason I know that is because I was kind of spearheading it. I was the person that was with these s

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