Poultry Passion Takes Flight
Kendall Snyder looks forward to NC State University Farm Animal Days each year, where curious children peer at fuzzy chicks while peppering her with questions. How old are the baby chickens? Are they dinosaurs?
“When the kids ask their names, I tell them that they can name the chicks. Each chick has 20 names by the end of week!” says Snyder, a senior double-majoring in poultry science and wildlife conservation biology.
The three-day event, which draws throngs of visitors each April, allows Snyder to share her love of poultry with children, many of whom have never seen chickens or turkeys in person.
Much like these children, she wasn’t exposed to gardening or raising livestock as a child either. Snyder’s military family moved frequently, and planting tomato plants was impractical. “When I was younger, I lived in South Korea and Italy. Then I lived in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Virginia and North Carolina, and in various placeswith in each state.”
By Snyder’s teen years, her father had retired from the military, and her family settled in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Despite having no experience with farming, Snyder fell hard for agriculture when she took animal science classes at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines. “I knew I wanted to be in the agricultural field when I graduated high school,” she says.
So, Snyder set her sights on NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
After earning an associate’s degree in science at Sandhills Community College, Snyder transferred to NC State. As a new student, she found the Prestage Department of Poultry Science to be a welcoming, close-knit community. During her first year, she attended meetings with a variety of clubs to meet students with similar interests.
“Ever since I transferred in in the fall of 2022, I have been an active member in the Poultry Science Club. And that’s been one of the things that has gotten me more involved as a transfer student,” she says.
This year, NC State’s Poultry Science Club won Club of the Year at the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta. At the same exhibition, Snyder won the Frank Perdue Scholarship Student of the Year. This scholarship recognizes a college student seeking a career in poultry science who has both excelled in academics and shows potential for making a significant contribution to the poultry industry.
Summer internships at Cobb-Vantress and Aviagen Turkeys, which both specialize in poultry genetics, have helped Snyder connect what she’s learning in the classroom with industry expectations. At each company, she worked on special projects in areas of particular interest to her — chicken embryology and turkey physiology.
“You can raise a broiler and never need to know anything about it,” she explains. “I want to know everything behind the scenes that’s happening and how the bird works.”
Snyder’s internship at Aviagen has also provided her with a path after graduation. She’ll join the company’s management training program, which will allow her to travel to several of its locations, including Goldsboro and Minnesota. Eventually, she plans to return to graduate school once she decides the area she would like to study. Ultimately, she hopes to help the poultry industry grow more sustainable and wants to help ensure it can meet the demands of feeding the world’s growing population.
As Snyder looks toward graduation, she also reflects on how NC State has supported her first steps into the poultry industry, from promoting professionalism to providing opportunities to networking within the industry.
“The department really helps connect students to industry professionals. There are also a lot of students who have had internships and have benefited greatly from them.”
This post was originally published in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences News.
