SPC student to attend national MANRRS conference

LEVELLAND – South Plains College student Jaden Bobo will attend the national Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) conference taking place from March 20-24 in Chicago, Illinois.

Bobo will be the sole representative of SPC at the organization’s 38th Annual Training Conference and Career Expo. She will travel with students from the Texas Tech University chapter of MANRRS, a non-profit organization that strives to empower minorities in agriculture, natural resources and similar science fields across the country.

“I’m looking forward to meeting students and getting insight into the field,” the first-year biology major from Lubbock said.

Bobo, who wants to later transfer to Tech and study biology with a focus on ecology and environmental biology, said the conference will be a chance to network with not only like-minded students but businesses as well. As someone who wants to work in sustainability after college, she said she is looking forward to learning from the professionals at the conference who empower students in these fields.

“At SPC, we have the Science Club that has a large number of women and minorities,” she said regarding her hopes for establishing a MANRRS chapter at SPC. “We have some of the same values and principles as MANRRS.”

Since SPC does not have a MANRRS chapter, Bobo said attending the conference with the Tech group will be an opportunity to see what the national organization offers. As a candidate for SPC Science Club president, she hopes to take what she will learn at the MANRRS conference and apply the organization’s values at the club.

“Jaden is very interested in corporate sustainability and how we can do a better job of stewarding our natural resources as a career goal,” Kristin Bingham, SPC department chair and associate professor of biology, said. “She is a really good fit for this opportunity and will be an excellent ambassador for SPC.”