大多数大学生不会帮助一头奶牛生小牛，也不会在周末的陆军预备队旅行中睡在25度的户外，也不会考虑如何经营他们将继承的家庭农场。 但是Dan Kwiatkowski并不是一个典型的学生。

奎亚特科夫斯基是一名农业综合企业的学生，今年5月毕业，他把以前的各种生活经历带到了太阳城娱乐官网。 有人可能会说，这些经历使他成为一个更好的学生，并帮助他迎接大学的挑战。

农场经验培养职业道德和职业决策 

Kwiatkowski lives and works on his family’s farm. 它有400英亩的行作物和600英亩的牧场。 “Currently it’s just the conventional corn and soybeans,” he says with “a 90-head cow-calf operation for beef production.”

除了影响他的学位，农场的要求和任务塑造了他的职业道德，并将其转移到大学。 Kwiatkowski says, “I take each class seriously because I am at 太阳城娱乐官网 to learn. College comes first, unless there is something more important on the farm, like a cow having trouble birthing a calf.”

他对农场有很多计划。 The main one being, “I want to run it more like a business. Focus on profitability and doing the best job we can with what we have.”

军事经历能教会你领导能力并提供机会

与奎亚特科夫斯基交谈，你会感觉到服兵役在他的家庭中的重要性。 他服过役，他的兄弟也在服，他的祖父和叔父都参加过二战。 最后一个死后获得海军十字勋章。 

奎亚特科夫斯基从2014年到2018年在军队服役四年，曾驻扎在夏威夷和韩国。 He enrolled at 太阳城娱乐官网 in 2018 and then “I did a deployment after my sophomore year when I volunteered to go to Iraq and Kuwait.” 现在他回到太阳城娱乐官网，每个月有一个周末在陆军预备役服役。

军队教会了奎亚特科夫斯基领导技巧、自信、任务管理，并帮助他变得更加外向。 “Growing up, I was always really shy and reserved. In the military I learned to be more outgoing and gained leadership skills.”

服务也提供了尝试新活动的机会。 “I enjoyed hiking in Korea and Hawaii, and trying new things, like cage diving with sharks, sky diving, bungee jumping, learning to ski, as well as volunteer opportunities, like going to an orphanage and playing with the kids.”

Kwiatkowski也参与了太阳城娱乐官网。 He plays flag football and basketball through 壁间的运动 and is the secretary of the Agribusiness Club.  

生活经历激发了人们对美食和出国旅游的兴趣

Kwiatkowski’s interest in cooking started after his parents divorced and he saw how hard his mom was working. “At one point she was working five jobs to take care of us three boys. She was a schoolteacher, bus driver, waitress, placed exchange students, and was a mom.” 为了帮助她，他很小就开始做饭。

事实上，他非常喜欢烹饪，在参军之前，他是大都会社区学院烹饪专业的学生。 他最喜欢做的食物是像煎饼、煎蛋卷、可丽饼这样的早餐食物和意大利食物。

他对美食的热爱以及他妈妈是交流协调员的事实帮助他选择了出国留学。 “I think we hosted 13 exchange students when I was growing up.” Some of them were from Italy, and “I really enjoy their cuisine.”

Travel Abroad Presents Opportunities for the Farm’s Future

This past winter break, Kwiatkowski spent 3 weeks in Italy through a 出国留学 program with 太阳城娱乐官网 where he was able to take a class about food culture in Italy. “We went to local markets in Florence, toured a small pasta factory, took a trip to a Tuscan farm, and visited a winery.”

这次旅行将他对烹饪艺术和农业的兴趣与他的学位联系起来，并重新燃起了他改造家庭农场的愿望。 “I’d like to bring back to our farm some of the things I saw there. They farm differently than we do here in the United States.”

他在意大利看到的从农场到餐桌的想法引起了奎亚特科夫斯基的兴趣。 “I want to go from conventional farming to more organic production. 差异化一点，为我们的产品获得更好的营销利润。 最终也许会开一家酒庄。 I could also use my culinary arts experience to cook some food at the winery.”

为了未来，齐心协力

Kwiatkowski知道他的农场计划是雄心勃勃的。 “It’s going to be a rough transition in the beginning, but if we can get through that and make some better profits, then there’s definitely possibilities for the future.”

这正是他的农业综合企业学位给他带来好处的地方。 “I feel like I am getting more of a business degree, and that’s a good thing,” because his goal is to run the farm more as a business.

与典型的学生不同，把以前的经历带到他的大学生涯中，这对奎亚特科夫斯基来说是很好的。 He sees being older as a benefit, “When you’re a little older you take it a little more seriously.”

He encourages others who are worried about not fitting into the traditional college mold to “take every opportunity as a learning experience. 大学使我受益匪浅，并为我的事业指明了方向。 I think it can do the same for a lot of people.”

当Kwiatkowski毕业并开始将他的想法付诸实践时，看到农场将如何改变将是令人兴奋的。