Nick Fief has always been a science fanatic. So when a neighbor mentioned the variety of career options in the field of food science, he knew he had to take a look.
After a semester of introductory classes, Nick knew he had found his calling. The environment in particular had drawn him in. “I personally enjoyed the faculty and their dedication to the program,” said Nick. “It was enjoyable and beneficial to get to spend time directly with the faculty. They were always available, helpful, and reasonable to get along with, not to mention knowledgeable about a variety of areas from microbiology, chemistry, dairy, meat, you name it.”
Now an Operations Specialist at Land O’ Lakes, Nick credits his undergrad experience for helping him prepare for a manufacturing work setting. “There are things I come across every day that I learned about from one course or another,” said Nick. “A lot of the simple, every day or every week things we do can sometimes get lost on people, like why we use certain sanitary practices or do environmental swabbing. Most people don’t really understand how important those little things really are.”
Nick’s role in the company also includes a research aspect. “Additionally, my job works directly with our company’s research and development team,” said Nick. “So having taken research and development courses in college helped prepare me for real world application of those processes.”
According to Nick, a food science degree is the gateway to a number of career opportunities. “If you have any interest in manufacturing, agriculture, management, research and development, government regulations, chemistry, biology, etc., then give food science a chance,” said Nick. “There is a job and a bright future in the food industry for anyone willing to work for it.”
Nick has found that the structured learning environment is what he misses most about K-State. “It was more enjoyable than I think I realized at the time to have so much knowledge and information at my fingertips and to learn something new every day,” said Nick. “And even though the nights were often long and the work load was high, it was never entirely dull when a group of us food science students were all working together on a project or studying for a final.”
Any other takeaways? “It was also rewarding to take classes like wine tasting,” said Nick. “You could say we enjoyed that homework the most. We all aced the class with flying colors, too!”