Intern story: Abbie Andersen

Photo Credit: Abbie Andersen
August 15, 2019

Abbie Andersen spent a summer completing an internship with a local family-owned business, James Arthur Vineyards. This vineyard has been built over three generations through the past 20 years. The vineyard is built on passion, dedication, and old-fashioned hard work, which is definitely something Abbie observed while interning there. The family's business mission is to produce the highest quality Nebraska wine product, which is how they have become the largest winery in Nebraska.

The thing that Abbie enjoyed the most about her internship was that she was outside to watch the sun rise every morning. Arriving at 6:30 each day wasn't something she would normally do during the school year, but she noted that it was really nice to start her day by being outside at the vineyard.

Abbie really enjoyed getting to talk with her supervisor about grape varieties and cultivars and how they're grown differently and how they work differently when being used to produce wine. After reflecting on this internship she's realized how much she likes doing hands on work and being out in the field. Abbie stated, "I'm glad that I did something where I could be outside each day instead of inside in an office. This really opened my eyes and made me realize how much I don't want to work in an office every day for the rest of my life. I would love to someday own my own vineyard or green house somewhere so that I can be outside and working hands on each day as my job."