K-State College of Agriculture -- An Inside View

Dairy Trip to Minnesota

I am a member of the Dairy Science Club where I currently hold the position of President. This past weekend club members traveled to the twin cities for the Regional American Dairy Science Association - Student Affiliate Division Conference.

On our way to Minnesota we toured two innovative dairy farms. The first tour was of Stranshome Dairy. This dairy owns members of some of the greatest cow families in the dairy industry today like Ashlyn, Talnt, and Roxy; they remain competitive because they take advantage of various genetic and reproductive procedures. The second dairy we visited was Durst Bros. Dairy; these three brothers milk over 1,200 cows in a double 24 parallel parlor. They have worked with K-State faculty to design and build a state of the art manure handling facility for their dairy. Both of these farms were neat to tour since they focused their strengths in different areas of the industry.

At the conference, students participated in dairy quiz bowl, club display competition, break out sessions, an awards banquet, and other fun activities. These break out sessions are orientated towards the dairy industry covering a wide range of current issues in the industry. Some of the areas covered in the sessions were: the calving process, genetics of tomorrow, transitioning back to the farm, and networking with the dairy producer. The picture at left is club members who attended the conference after the awards banquet.

Even though the drive was long, the trip was fun, educational, and unforgettable!

Becky's National Officer Update

Konichiwa! (translation—HOWDY)!

I sure hope everyone enjoyed celebrating National FFA Week, I know my
team and I did! Currently, we are in Nashville Indiana (no, not
Tennessee), at a bed and breakfast for the annual National Officer
“Work Week/Retreat.”

To give you a little update on what has been going on in my life the
past few months, here are the highlights:

1) We found out our state conventions for this year! Mine are: Kentucky,
Kansas, Alabama, Massachusetts, Delaware, Ohio, Illinois, and
California! YEA!! My first conventions are Massachusetts and Delaware
(March 15-20th).

2) We experience our first FFA National Board of Directors Meeting in
January

3) The morning of our Board Meeting, my team and I had a special meeting
where they surprised us with our NLCSO partners…Brady and Kari, Zach
and Tyler, Morgan and I!!! WILDCAT POWER!

4) January 4-14th we traveled overseas to Japan! A few fun Japan
highlights are:
    a. Going to the bath house
    b. Eating traditional Japanese food (a lot of raw fish, cow tongue,
Sea urchin, rice, meso soup, and much more)!
    c. Learned to play the traditional Japanese drums as a high school,
and then got to perform during a presentation at a hotel in front of
audience!
    d. Attended a traditional Japanese tea ceremony
    e. Saw Hiroshima and toured the peace museum
    f. Toured MANY shrines and temples, learning about the Shindu and
Buddhists
    g. Got to ride the bullet trains, as well as the CROWDY subways in
Tokyo
    h. Went to Oyster Festival on Niwogima Island
    i. Finally, my BEST experience…my host family where I made a new
best friend named Ami Son, a 17 year-old high school student. We both
cried when we parted ways!

5) National FFA Week: I traveled with Ms. Nina Crutchfield to Texas. I
ended up doing a greenhand leadership conference, toured Texas tech and
attended Alumni luncheon there, did two different leadership sessions
for about 10 schools at Tarleton State University, toured MANY other
schools across state, and got to go skeet shooting with some collegiate
members for the first time!

6) Currently we are in Nashville Indiana at a bed and breakfast (my
first bed and breakfast ever). After this week of work, we will go on
our second week of “partnership” visits (business and industry visits).
I will spend Monday March 3 with businesses in Indianapolis, then Brady
and I will fly to Detroit for two days, then New York City, and finally
Washington D.C.

7) March 9-12 we will all be in Washington D.C. for National Ag. Week;
we will speak with politicians and meet with FFA members from nearby
chapters.

The opportunities and once-in-a-lifetime experiences my teammates and I
have been blessed with we will never forget. As a newly elected
officer, we were told “expect nothing, appreciate everything!” We truly
have A LOT to appreciate.

Thank YOU for being a mentor, coach, supporter, and most of all a friend
in my journey to make it where I am today. I hope to re-pay the
kindness you have shown me with each day of my life!

Miss you all, but know that I am being taken good care of!

God bless,
Becky Sullivan

National Block & Bridle Convention

Over the weekend of October 18 - 20, K-State Block & Bridle members hosted over 400 Block and Bridle members  from across the nation at their annual convention.  Block & Bridle is one of the largest organizations for students majoring in Animal Science or who have an interest in animal agriculture.  Each year the convention is held in a different part of the country to showcase that region's animal agriculture.  This year, K-State Block & Bridle had the opportunity to host this event.  During the three day conference, members listened to keynote and industry speakers, such as General Richard B. Meyers, Dr. Jerry Jaax, Dr. John Stika, etc, visited different farms across the state of Kansas, and had the opportunity to network with one another. In addition, members were able to attend the American Royal in Kansas City and watch the PBR. Below is a picture from the PBR.

The convention was a great success thanks to all the help from the B&B members here at K-State.  It was an amazing opportunity to be able to host the convention, since a lot of schools are not able to.  I am also extremely thankful for our club advisors and all of the help they gave the club in helping to plan convention.  Without them, I know the convention would not have been such a success. 

Below is a picture of the K-State group at convention.

~Rebecca

Get Involved!

One of the first things I did when I came to K-State was get involved. I went to the University Activities Carnival and picked up brochures and flyers about different organizations and activities. Then, I went to the College of Agriculture Watermelon Feed and signed up for anything and everything that interested me even the slightest bit. It sure didn’t take me long to find out how over involved I had gotten myself. I did not have anywhere close to enough time to do it all! That’s when I really sat down and decided what I was really passionate about and then went from there.

It is always good to get involved. It’s a major part of college and your education as a whole. However, do not do what I did and try to immerse yourself in everything or you will get INCREDIBLY overwhelmed and stressed out. Extracurricular activities and student organizations should be fun!

A good rule of thumb that Dr. Boggs, Associate Dean for the College of Agriculture, always says is get involved in two things when you first get here. The first activity should be something in your major so that you can begin establishing friendships and industry connections within your major, department, and college. The second should be something for you. This is very wide open and being at K-State gives you an incredible array of options. Anything you could possibly think of that you are passionate about, you could probably find as a student organization or group here on campus. Student organizations range from religious groups to skydiving club, from belly dancing to Student Governing Board.

[Below is a picture of my fellow Ag Ambassadors and myself sharing a little leisure time out at the trapshooting range. While we get a lot of work accomplished for the College of Agriculture, we have a lot of fun just being together outside of meetings and activities.]

Go ahead, explore!! When it comes time to figure out what you are going to devote your precious time to though, make sure it is something that is going to help you in the future or something that you are really passionate about. This will bring you the greatest college success. I never regret being active in the organizations I joined because they benefit myself as well as others and most importantly, I have FUN doing it!!

-Morgan