The summer of 2018 was the first year of the USDA-NIFA funded REEU (Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates) internship. The main goal of the program is to produce undergraduate students with exceptional research and extension skills capable of immediately addressing challenges of sustainable agricultural production within the workforce or in graduate programs. To achieve this goal, ten students were selected through a competitive process for the internship opportunity. Each intern had a faculty mentor that helped them complete their research and extension activities. The interns were also required to attend six mandatory trainings that presented and discussed professionalism, leadership, and communication skills. The seventh training required the interns to ‘train’ their peers to complete one major activity of their projects. The interns were also required to complete a poster, which they presented at the 2018 Corn and Soybean Field Day, and a research report, which is posted online at https://graincrops.ca.uky.edu/intern-research-posters. At the end of the program 80% of the interns indicated that they were interested in pursuing a career in extension as a direct result of this program.