Today's Opportunity, Tomorrow's Growth
MKC is committed to helping our rural communities prosper and prepare for tomorrow. One of the best ways to
show our commitment is to invest in the future generation.
MKC offers several programs to provide young college aged people an opportunity to develop themselves through MKC’s financial support and our college student development programs.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Each year MKC and Mid-West Fertilizer offer scholarships to high school seniors and current college students furthering their education.
Since 2008, close to $200,000 has been awarded through the MKC Scholarship Program.
Scholarship recipients demonstrate leadership abilities, participate in their communities, achieve high academic performance and display a genuine desire to further their education and career.
Recipients also addressed college and career goals along with key aspects of the cooperative system such as how cooperatives create a community environment among local producers and employees.
Brad Stedman, MKC president and CEO says, “The MKC Scholarship Program is just one-way MKC can help support exceptional students who someday soon will enter the workforce to make a difference in the industry and communities where their career paths lead them,” Stedman continues to say, “We are honored to help these young students financially.”
The application window for the scholarship program opens in March each year. Winners are selected and announced in May.
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
MKC has created an intern program with the goal of developing students by providing opportunities that cultivate growth in technical and professional skills.
Hilary Worcester, Manager of Learning and Development for MKC and Mid-West Fertilizer says, “Our program provides college students an opportunity to understand career options within agriculture and MKC for their future. If we can do that well, it would allow an opportunity to attract those same students as full-time team members.”
MKC’s efforts to provide a hands-on, value-added experience for interns through the summer intern program has resulted in 27 permanent hires into full-time roles with MKC. Four of those full time hires went on to participate in the internship program as mentors for this year's interns.
This summer MKC hosted 11 interns, 2 of which came back for their second summer with MKC. The interns came from Fort Hays University, University of Missouri and Kansas State University. They ranged from entering their second year to entering their fourth year of college. 
Each intern was given the opportunity to work on a project that is directly related to MKC’s strategic plan. At the end of the summer, each intern presented their project to MKC’s leadership team.
“We get really excited about the projects because we see the fingerprints of past interns all over our organization. Their projects add tremendous value and help steer our path for the future,” says Worcester.
The interns hold roles in various locations and positions throughout the cooperative's footprint. The roles can range from traditional areas in agronomy sales, energy sales, grain merchandising, general operations and grain operations. MKC also offers less traditional roles in communications, accounting, IT and inventory management.
After the summer internship, MKC may invite an intern to be a part of our Collegiate Career Development (CCD) program, if they see the intern as a good fit for a future full time hire. The CCD was created by MKC as a partnership of agriculturally focused companies (CoBank, Corteva, KanEquip, GCC) committed to providing continued development for interns that are interested in a future with their company.
This program is an extension of their internship as they continue a part-time job to develop technical and professional skills while working on projects for us while they are at college. These interns continue working with a mentor to deepen their connection to the company and culture.
“We feel strongly that if we provide opportunities for students and interns to grow and be successful, we will attract a fantastic next generation of employees. Those employees will be highly engaged in our culture and strive to serve our growers in a way that leads to the continued growth and success of our organization,” says Worcester.
MKC offers numerous programs to help invest in our future as a cooperative. Cooperatives have no expiration date so MKC will continue to develop young leaders that will bring value to the agricultural industry now and in the future.
ARC OF DEVELOPMENT
MKC has a core value in learning and development. We have created an arc of development to define that journey. The purpose of the arc and the activities associated with it is two-fold. It allows us the opportunity to share the story of agriculture and develop strong industry advocates and potential future leaders.
BE A PART OF THE MKC ARC
Do you know students who are eligible to receive our scholarship? Share the information with them when applications are available in March. Do you know students who might be a great fit for our intern program? Check out our intern webpage>>