Tom Hamilton, who farms near Wilmington, OH, is an eager recipient of interns from the Ohio International Intern Program (TOP), also known as OIIP. Under OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), OIIP specializes in internships in Horticulture, Agriculture, Animal Sciences, and Turf Grass. Grateful for the education he got at CFAES, Tom provides interns not only with housing and transportation but also hands-on education.
Previous interns he hosted have earned career-launching degrees in their field, building on what they learned in Tom’s fields. Examples include David Zelaya of Honduras and Luis Gustavo Tosi Costa of Brazil who studied under CFAES Horticulture and Crop Science Prof. Laura Lindsey This year is no exception, another Luis from Brazil, Luis Dias Mendonça, who is advised by Dr. Laura Lindsey, received the Outstanding Grad Student Award at the Spring Soiree of CFAES’ Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, where Tom Hamilton received the Distinguished Alumni Award.
Another instance of interns from the program being recognized occurred at the March 2026 III International Symposium of Agricultural Sciences at The University of Georgia’s Griffin Campus. Hosted by UAA-US, an alumni association of The Universidad Nacional de Agricultura in Honduras. The symposium’s awards event closed with special recognition for OIIP. Attendees included OIIP employees, namely Program Coordinator John Beardmore and Career Counselor Victor Arboleda, as well as alums of both UNAG and OSU: Lenin Rodriguez (PhD Horticulture & Crop Science, CFAES Wooster, August 2024), Fiama Estefany Guevara Guillen (PhD Plant Pathology, CFAES Wooster, August 2025) and Lilian Carcamo (Research Scholar CFAES Wooster April 2022 to June 2023, currently a Post-Doctoral Researcher at UGA).