This summer, I have a very unusual internship for someone with my career goals.

I’m working as a Resident Adviser for the Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) at Centre College.

Governor’s Scholars are high school students heading into their senior year who apply for the opportunity to participate in the prestigious 5 week program.

The program provides academic and personal growth through the balance of a strong liberal arts program with a full co-curricular and residential life experience.

Some of my GSP friends and I at the 2006 Closing Ceremony.

In 2006, I left home and my usual summer schedule of hog shows and FFA events behind for 5 weeks at GSP, at the Morehead State University campus.

GSP was my first time leaving my rural hometown and experiencing the way the rest of the world lives.

GSP was the first time I discovered that there were people in the world who don’t know what a tractor is, actually met people who don’t eat meat and encountered people who believed that animals should have the same rights as people.

As a Governor’s Scholar, I learned the hard way that there were people in our world who think that farmers are evil.

As shocked and offended as I was by these realizations, I was in an environment that encouraged acceptance and free thinking. I soon learned that for every person I met who hated livestock producers, there was at least two more who wanted to learn about them and loved hearing stories from my family farm.

These experiences were what drove me to become an advocate for the agriculture industry, first on a local level then on my college campus through agriculture student organizations.

Some of my fellow 2010 Centre GSP RA's and I.

It the challenges that I had faced at GSP that motivated me to keep telling farmers stories to the many people who have never heard it.

When the opportunity arose for me to work at GSP as an RA and facilitator for the life changing experiences, I was ecstatic.

Not only will I be providing that same life changing environment for 350 more Kentucky students but I’ll be sharpening my skills as an agriculture advocate as well.

What? How will working at GSP help me achieve my career goals if I don’t see livestock every day?

Will this internship turn into a career? Doubtful; and that’s not my intention.

My goal for this summer is to learn.

I’m learning how the rest of society lives. I’m trying to understand a large group of consumers that we as farmers work hard to feed.

One of my vegetarian co-workers, Silas, who always lets me pick his brain.

What decisions are today’s high schoolers making when it comes to food?

Where they’re getting their information?

Have these future consumers ever met a farmer?

Do they know where their food comes from?

Do they care?

I’m working with people who spend their careers as influencing these young minds.

My coworkers are from cities, small towns and even foreign countries.

Some don’t eat meat, some can’t get enough of it. Some love Michael Pollan, some join me in making fun of him.

They’re leaders, people who set an example to hundreds of others daily, and I’m studying the example they’re setting when it comes to food.

I’m getting so much more out of this job than a paycheck.

I’m gaining a perspective that can only be learned by leaving the cow pasture behind for a while and experiencing a liberal arts college campus.

Each year, the Kentucky FFA Association gives “Distinguished Service Awards.”

This is the most prestigious honor the association can bestow on a person. Its given to those who spend years going above and beyond in giving back to the nearly 15,000 members that make up the Kentucky Association.

This year, we could not have honored three more deserving men.

William B. Tolle accepts the Ky. FFA Distinguished Service Award

The first was William B. Tolle.

If you show livestock in Kentucky then Bill Tolle has helped you out a lot over years.

A long time member of the Kentucky State Fair Board, Mr. Tolle was instrumental in establishing the Kentucky State Fair’s Sale of Champions.

The sale of the champion and reserve champion of each 4-H/FFA livestock market animal species raises thousands of dollars that go back to the exhibitors.

A percentage of sale monies are given to the exhibitors of the champions and reserve champions, another portion is divided amongst the rest of the show and a percentage is given to the Kentucky 4-H and the Kentucky FFA Association.

Most emotional for the audience, however, was the surprise presentations.

Only the Kentucky FFA executive secretary, Matt Chaliff, and the convention interns knew who the surprise award recipients were. It was a long week of keeping secrets and white lying but we’re proud to say they were both shocked by the honor.

L-R Mr. Curt Lucas and Dr. Pete Driesbach accept their surprise Distinguished Service Awards

Mr. Curt Lucas and Dr. Pete Driesbach have both work with Kentucky FFA on a state level.

Mr. Lucas serves as state adviser and has spent years working to not only protect but improve Kentucky’s agriculture education programs.

Mr. Lucas is known and loved for his long winded stories, attention to detail and sincere love for every member to ever wear a blue jacket.

Dr. Pete Driesbach is the director of the Kentucky FFA Leadership Training Center in Hardinsburg, Ky.

For over 25 years, Dr. Pete has been dedicated to training the next generation of FFA members.

The Leadership Training Center is our FFA Camp and a place for chapter members to network, team-build and train for their upcoming year of service to their chapter and years to come as future leaders in our society.

Though the Kentucky FFA Association is based in an office in Frankfort, Dr. Pete is always quick to point out that its heart and soul is in Hardinsburg.

As a state FFA officer, I had the privilege to work closely with all of these men. In their own subtle ways, each has made a tremendous impact on my life and the lives of thousands of Kentucky FFA members.

I can’t think of anyone who more deserves this honor or embodies the last line of the FFA motto: “Living to Serve.”

It would be impossible to capture the entire 2010 Ky FFA Convention into one post.

The 2009-2010 State Officer team did an amazing job inspiring members to “Belong. Believe. Become.”

The interns worked long hours, lost a lot of sleep and made countless memories.

A new generation of state officers took the reins and embarked on a year that will change their lives in ways they can’t fathom.

I’m still recovering from the exhaustion and daunting task of sorting through the  2000 photos I took during the week!

When I curled up on the couch to begin editing, I couldn’t resist sharing some of my favorites with you. Enjoy!

For the past 5 years, I’ve spent the first week of June at the Kentucky FFA State Convention.

As an high school sophomore and junior, state convention was a chance to compete in a career development event and represent my chapter on the state level.

As a senior, I was competing for the chance to become the face of Kentucky FFA: a state officer. As a college freshman, I was retiring from state office and the most amazing year of my life thus far.

Aaron gives last minute stage directions to the 2008-2009 State Secretary

Following retirement, I came back to state convention as an “intern.”

Interns are past FFA members, not all past state officers, not all agriculture education majors, just alumni who want to give back to FFA by donating their time to making state convention a success.

The state officers are the ones on stage, poised and perfect.

What no one realizes is that there’s an intern backstage making sure that they go on stage when they’re supposed to, stand where they’re supposed to and are ready to say what they’re supposed to.

As a state officer, I realized just how important interns are.

By the last session I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even think straight. I was so thankful for the interns backstage reminding me what I was supposed to do next and to just take a deep breath and enjoy my last session.

Interns are truly the unsung heroes of state convention.

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I’ve just finished my junior year of college and I’m only two semesters away from the “real world.”

Aaron and I are planning a wedding, starting to remodel our house and looking to the future more than ever.

I’m still chasing my dream of telling farmers stories through freelance journalism.

Beyond just writing, I’m putting more time into my photography and expanding my web design skills. I’m trying to find a way to serve the average farmer, the commodity group and the non-ag client.

I’m approaching this as a business now, not just a hobby. I’m dedicated to making it a career.

More than anything, Aaron and I are determined to start our own beef cattle and show pig farm.

We know that young farm families face a lot of challenges.

We know we’ve got a rough path ahead of us because the only capital we have going into this is our passion for animal agriculture and faith in ourselves. We know that it will take years of hard work to get there.

We’re beginning a new chapter in our lives and we’re asking for any advice you have to offer.

If you could do it again, take things back to when you started your farm or business, what would you do differently?

What should young farmers know about the business they’re getting into?

How do we create a profitable business that we can pass on to the next generation?

As a part of the Fleischaker-Greene Scholars program, 11 Western Kentucky University journalism students spent their spring semester investigating agriculture.

The hours were long, the issues were complex and the end result was Farm to Fork: an online magazine that highlights many different aspects of agriculture and food production.

Students get up close with heifers at the WKU Farm. (Sara Shipley Hiles/Farm to Fork)

As a member of this class, I was privileged to work with some of the most talented students in the journalism school.

I learned so much from my classmates.

They were great editors who helped me to write in a way that would better connect with readers who know nothing about agriculture and avoid terms that only a farmer would understand.

More than anything, though, my classmates encouraged me to try new ways of telling a story and greatly expand my multimedia skills.

I tried to repay all their help with my ag expertise. Since I was the only student in the class with an agriculture background, I spent a lot of time translating meat labels or explaining industry practices.

Often I’d help my classmates find farmers who would allow a journalist onto their farm. This was great for both the students and the farmers because often I’d connect them with a farm that would have otherwise been wary of a journalist.

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One of my favorite things about coming home for the summer is fresh produce.

There’s nothing that compares to the taste of a vine ripened, fresh picked strawberry!

In my house, the first few weeks of summer are full of strawberry dishes: ice cream with strawberries, strawberry syrup, strawberry shortcake and strawberry jam.

If you’re on a low sugar diet like me, however, most of these dishes are strictly forbidden.

Luckily, my mom is a canning whiz!

I grew up in a family that never bought jam from a grocery store and ate  vegetables from our garden year round because Momma had canned them.

For years, my mom has been working on sugar free jam and jelly recipes so that I can once again enjoy homemade jam on warm biscuits like anyone else.

This year, we put our heads together and finally mastered our sugar free strawberry jam recipe!

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It was my first trip to Washington, D.C. and my first time at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit but more than anything it was a week to remember!

I’ve previously written about being named high individual and WKU Block and Bridle taking top club honors in the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s College Aggies Online program.

The AAA folks were gracious enough to invite Aaron and I to attend their annual summit to accept my award and represent Block and Bridle. Needless to say, we jumped at the opportunity.

Our big check for being named top club in College Aggies Online

For a couple of college agriculture students, this summit was a collection of the who’s who in animal agriculture.

We were eating meals next to executives of major meat companies, chatting between sessions with researchers and meeting people who are on the cutting edge of advocating for agriculture.

The most flattering thing about our experience was these industry folks were just as excited to meet us!

They welcomed us to their conversations, asked our opinions on major animal agriculture issues and patiently answered every one of our questions about their work in the industry.

I was so excited to hear from so many awesome speakers and take in our nation’s capital all in one week that I couldn’t put my camera down.

Below is an multimedia photo album of my photos from the Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit. Enjoy!

Every little girl secretly aspires to be like her mom.

We all look up to her amazing ability to fix any injury, wash laundry, chauffeur kids to and from practices and put supper on the table every day without going insane.

If you grew up on a farm, however, you look up to your mom in a completely different way.

My mom and I, Summer 2008

Farm mom’s are the hardest working people out there.

Not only do they manage the duties of a normal mom but they also have a farm to care for. Sometimes this means my mom is responsible for nearly 100 living breathing beings!

First there’s the obvious responsibility: children.

As a mother of five, my mom somehow managed all of our schedules and made sure we were all able to participate in whatever activities we wanted to. Currently, this means 4-H, FFA, soccer, marching band, basketball, school musical, story hour and church youth activities!

Then there’s taking care of five kids on the farm.

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My roommate, Molly, has been running for as long as I can remember.

Molly braved the rain to run her first mini-marathon.

In middle school, Molly began running cross country to stay in shape for basketball.

Now a senior in college, Molly set a new goal: run a mini-marathon in under 2 hours.

In January, Molly began chasing her dream. She began a 10 week training program to prepare herself to run the 13.1 miles of the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon in April.

Of course, mini-marathon training meant running…a lot of running.

Just as important, though, was a specific change in Molly’s diet.

To prepare for her race, Molly increased her intake of meat, specifically beef.

Molly knew that she needed more protein in her diet since she was greatly increasing her physical activity and trying to build muscle.

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