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NRCS Chief Bruce Knight addressed the participants during the second
day of the conference. Following his address, Chief Knight, Dr.
Ann Hill Duin (representing the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities),
and Dr. Steve Ridley (representing the University of Wisconsin -
River Falls) participated in the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum
of Understanding between NRCS and the two universities. The API
scholarship program, in which NRCS provides each school with funding
for a full scholarship, is designed to help provide a diverse pool
of qualified graduates for NRCS job placement. |
Vernon Parker-Assistant State Secretary |
Versha Kumar-AA/PI Program Manager, USDA |
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 Guest Speakers
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Pooh V. & William Hunt William
Hunt is the State Conservationist in Minnesota. He has been
instrumental in recruited Asian American to work with NRCS
and is one of the generous contributors to the APIO Scholarship.
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Pooh V. & Dudley Kubo - Dudley
Kubo is a civil engineer in Hawaii. He was awarded for
Excellence in API Community Outreach.
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Hari Eswaran is from the National
Headquarters from Washington D.C. Mr. Eswaran is the National
Leader, World Soil Resources and has conducted numerous
workshops with the APIO. This year he spoke about the Innovative
Techniques in Soil Survey and discussed different types
of techniques used around the world to produce crops.
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Workshops
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Enhancing your career through personal development - This
workshop was taught by Elizabeth Heilpern. She discussed how to
develop a discipline for improving ones self-development. With
self-development you can enhance your career by gaining marketable
skills, and help with improving employability.
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Developing Powerful Presentations - This workshop was taught
by Don Hancock using a multitude of communication tools. Don went
through the process of how to give presentation and how to keep
the audiences attention.
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SEPM training - Special Emphasis Program Manager training
was to clarify and emphasize our responsibilities as SEPM's.
This included a short lesson in ethics for the liaisons along
with what kinds of tools are valuable in recruiting.
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GPS and GIS information for field Office staff - Trainers
from Fort Worth, Texas came to present a day's workshop in Global
Positioning System and Geographic Information System. This workshop
included a day outside working with GPS units. We were taught
to record the point from where we were standing to where our
destination would be.
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Socialization Hour
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Banquet-Entertainment
Following the APIO banquet, the attendees had
the unique opportunity to experience the exquisite chamber music
of Young-Nam Kim, the Artistic Director of Chamber Music
Society of Minnesota, and drum dancers from Mu Gung Hwa
Korean Dance Academy. These brilliantly-dressed dancers
exhibited their skill in Korean drumming. They were focused
on carrying the audience through intense waves of percussion,
while whirling, bending over backwards, and never missing a
beat.
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Conservation Tour
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Angela & Winnie: Angela Biggs (NRCS - Iowa) and Winnie
Chen (NRCS - AZ) stop to smell the flowers during the conservation
tour to the 116-acre, organic farm. The tour is a regular part
of the annual conference, which is held in different locations
each year, allowing NRCS employees to learn about different cultures
and methods of farming based on the ecology and population of
the area.
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The attendees explored the lakes region of Minnesota during
a conservation tour to a farm owned and operated by AA/PI farmers.
The workers, who are primarily from Laos, are growing and harvesting
ethnic crops in the most sustainable and organic way possible.
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We
hope that you can join us for next year's conference
July 29, 2004 in Minnesota
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