Today’s world insists that people have a diverse set of knowledge if they want to keep pace with all of the changes around them. Whether you are a major agri-business or a blogger trying to figure out how to put a photo set on Flickr (oh, thank you great Chuck One of Blogging Knowledge!), the more you know, the better.

That same idea was a large part of what the recipients of the Missouri Colleges Fund scholarships saw on their recent tour of Novus International, Pfizer and Monsanto… all in the St. Louis area.

After a long day of seeing firsthand the research labs and meeting the people who work in those labs, the group walked away with a better understanding of what they would need to know once they have finished their studies and get ready to join the workforce.

I caught up with Natalie Nekouian, a junior studying biology at Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., just before she was headed back home. She told me she saw a lot of diversity in the various fields that each company covered… and the diversity in knowledge the workers within each of these companies have themselves.

“Each of the people [I talked to], they went into one field but diversified and adjusted easily and learned new things. They’re constantly learning, and that’s somethig that I really took away from it.”

Nekouian says while she’s getting a biology degree, the tour really opened her eyes to the other opportunities that degree could bring.

You can hear all of my interview with Natalie here: NataleNekouian.mp3

2009 Novus International Undergraduate Networking Day Photo Set