Ag Lit BitKirsten's Korner: Getting to know me
Growing up, my family had no real tie to agriculture, which I knew of. When I thought about agriculture, I always thought of Old McDonald on his farm, with all of his animals. That changed a little bit when I was in elementary school, because my mom had rescued a horse, which got my sister and I heavily involved in horseback riding and 4H. I still had a fairly closed idea on what agriculture was, since I had never been exposed to it. When I got to high school, I met an individual who farmed and they would tell me all about corn and soybeans, as well as various hot topics in agriculture. This led to me being more interested in agriculture as a whole, something that had affected me throughout my whole life, even though I had never known it.
My high school did not offer any agriculture courses and it certainly did not have FFA, which really is unfortunate. So, I had to find my own resources to learn more about agriculture and see if it really was something I wanted to focus more on in high school. When it came time to apply for colleges, I had to choose between secondary math education and agricultural education. After weighing my options, I ultimately chose agriculture education due to the ever growing field of careers it offers, as well as the wide variety of courses that are offered in agriculture.
When I got to college, I knew that I had chosen the right course of study. I loved every second of what I was learning, so much so that when my best friend decided to switch her major out of agriculture education I thought she was crazy! After being in the agricultural education track for three years now, I can say with certainty that I chose the perfect major. I get to teach high school students about subjects that have lost their meaning in today’s society. Many individuals do not learn about agriculture anymore and they do not know many of the processes. For this reason, I believe that attaining this knowledge has helped me to want to learn more about what I feel is one of the most important processes in the world.
For the people who may not know what they want to do in life, I would recommend looking into agriculture. There are many opportunities that you may have never thought about that could ultimately get you excited about agriculture. I was skeptical at first, but once I did a lot more research on all the career opportunities, I knew I had found the right course for myself.