Brandon McKee
Department of Food and Resource Economics, Undergraduate student
Brandon McKee has had the unique opportunity to work as an assistant with the PIE Center as an undergraduate student. Brandon first started working with the PIE Center two years ago as an Extension Intern in the summer of 2016. He is studying Food and Resource Economics and will be graduating in May of 2018.
As an undergraduate assistant with the PIE Center, McKee has been a part of several projects, including the Water3 project, the agriculture BMPs project, the mosquito project, the Hurricane Irma project, the opinion leadership project, the interdisciplinary center project, the agritourism project, and a KAI study done in Haiti. 
“I have been most appreciative of the grace the PIE Center staff has shown me,” said McKee. “When I first began with the center I knew so little, but they were always willing to teach and provide guidance. My coworkers have become an academic family for me and I am beyond thankful for how they have led me along the way.”
The PIE Center has equipped McKee with the skills needed to help him continue to be a successful student and agricultural communicator.
“I believe the greatest take away that the PIE Center has instilled in me is to be a life long learner. I had no experience with research when I first began with the center, but I was curious and I was willing to work at it,” said McKee. “Being a life long learner means not being intimidated by new processes and unexplored avenues, but facing them instead with humility and confidence. The PIE Center has grown in me both of these qualities.”
Following graduation from the University of Florida, McKee will begin his career as a Land Surveying Manager. He is excited for this new opportunity and hopes to one day serve God in a ministry position. He knows that the skills he has gained from being an undergraduate assistant at the PIE Center will help him to succeed in all of his future endeavors.
During Brandon’s time at the PIE Center he has learned two principles by which to live by:
- Fake it till you make it.
- How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
