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<< back to the 2003 archive listing << Food Protection Trends COMMENTARY from the executive director “By having student involvement, we are training our Association's future!” Student involvement in IAFP continues to grow and we all benefit from this growth. If you attended IAFP 2003 in New Orleans, you most likely saw for yourself the active student participation. From the Student PDG booth in the registration foyer, to student session room monitors, to our student helpers at registration and those that assisted with our social events, to the students involved with the Developing Scientist Competition; student participation was every-where! We are fortunate to have an active student contingent and here is why. By having student involvement, we are training our Association’s future. Students attend the Annual Meeting, give presentations, attend presentations and are actively involved in those areas discussed above. Through this involvement, students are learning the importance of the “IAFP way”. That is the sharing of information between industry, government and education to help protect the world’s food supply. I heard directly from a number of student participants at this year’s Annual Meeting that IAFP 2003 energized them and that they can’t wait to attend IAFP 2004! That is the best news we can hope for: young people, the future leaders of this Association, who want to return next year (and the year after that, too). This helps to ensure the longevity of IAFP. Our Student Members have always been an active component of IAFP but their growth has mushroomed over the past five or ten years. Five years ago, we had just 28 papers accepted for the Developing Scientists Competition. This year, we had 71! Five years ago, we had 51 student attendees at the 1998 Annual Meeting as compared to 158 this year. We have also seen an increase in Student Memberships. Back in 1997 we had 122 Student Members, 20 from outside of the USA. Now we have 279 Student Members including 61 from outside of the United States. Just four years ago, the Student PDG was formed to provide the opportunity for students to gather at the Annual Meeting to meet one another and learn about each other’s research interests. Each year since, a Student Luncheon has been held on Committee Day at the Annual Meeting. This year, close to 100 attended the luncheon and learned about corporate food safety from the featured speaker, Jeffery Rhodehamel from Cryovac/Sealed Air Corporation. We are proud of our student participation in the PDG and look for great things to come in the future. One event that has been discussed is to hold a student social or a mixer of some type. This would allow interaction between students and food safety leaders in a relaxed social setting. We hope to be able to accomplish this at IAFP 2004, but will need support to enable this to happen. If your company has the ability to lend financial support for such an endeavor, please contact me at the IAFP office. We want to be able to keep the Student Membership in IAFP growing and prospering. After all, students are the future of the International Association for Food Protection! |