Leah Greene Built Valuable Skillset Through Hands-On Learning

Leah Greene credits her time at the Experiential Learning Lab (ELL), including managing the Arkansas Water Resources Center’s media program, with helping her develop a valuable skillset that she can build her career on. 

Greene is set to graduate with a degree in agricultural communications from the University of Arkansas in May 2024. She already has a position lined up with The Nunneley Group as their virtual marketing specialist! 

Newsletter subscribers and social media followers have seen Leah’s work on AWRC media since April 2023. The AWRC’s partnership with the ELL advances a core AWRC mission to support student training. 

The ELL is housed in the Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology Department in Bumpers College and serves as a small-scale marketing agency. Students work directly with clients on social media, website design, content creation and other aspects of communications. 

Greene currently works for the ELL as the undergraduate coordinator. Greene’s duties include working with an industrial printer, managing employees and working with clients like the AWRC. 

Greene knew that she was interested in agricultural communications since high school when she competed on Lincoln FFA’s agricultural communications team. 

“I always knew I liked ag communications, so it was a good fit for me,” Greene said. “Also, becoming involved in that field in college really solidified that love.” 

Greene appreciates the diversity of opportunities and connections she has made during her time at the University of Arkansas and the ELL. 

“Everybody comes from a different background, so that is really awesome to get to experience… I don’t think everybody gets that in their college career,” she said. “That is part of what I loved about working with the AWRC. They asked for a wide range of projects, and I think I was lucky to get that experience.” 

Working with the AWRC has been a unique experience for Greene, exposing her to agricultural and resource management knowledge. 

The AWRC has also given Greene the opportunity to improve her work in multiple areas of communications management, such as website design and technical writing.  

 Greene foresees using the skills she gained from this hands-on learning experience as she takes the next steps into a career. She will remember her time partnering with the AWRC fondly. 

 “I am about to start a job with The Nunneley Group, and they are a medical advertising and marketing agency,” Greene said. “There is a lot of technical writing with that, so the AWRC definitely prepared me for that.” 

The AWRC wishes Greene well in her next steps. “It’s been such a pleasure to work with Leah over the last year. Her management of our program was professional quality, and she is always committed do doing a great job,” said Erin Grantz, the AWRC Program Manager. 

The AWRC-ELL partnership is supported by the U.S. Geological Survey 104(b) program. 

Article written by Tru Joi Curtis

Image courtesy of Leah Greene