Great organizations, great memories, great kids

I'm a farmgirl. No apologies there. Would not trade my life growing up on a northeast Ohio farm for anything.

I was a 4-H member from grade 3 until my freshman year of college...and it taught me a lot. Not the least of which was that it gave me my 1st real exposure to public speaking. I knew it was for me: where else would I be judged on my ability to talk and get to compete against others? Weird, I know...but the competitive nature comes with being the oldest. if you're not a first-born child, you might not understand. Go read The Birth Order Book by Kevin Lehman.

My parents were vocational agriculture teachers back in the day (now called agricultural education). In fact, my mom was the first female ag teacher in the state of Florida (where I was born and we lived before moving back home to our family farm in 1980). One of the most memorable and impactful conversations I ever had with my dad was in the spring of my 8th grade year when we talked about whether I was going to sign up to take ag ed classes in high school and join FFA. He told me that FFA could open limitless doors and possibilities for me, but that he didn't want me to feel like it was something I had to do just because I was the daughter of two ag teachers. But if I did it, I needed to do it right: and that meant taking advantage of every single opportunity that came my way. I heeded his advice, and he was right. Besides, here was another organization just begging to let me talk...competitively!

Seriously, I think every students should take at least one course in agricultural education...if for no other reason that to know where their food comes from and how if gets from the farm gate to their plate. And new flash: Agriculture is the single largest industry here in Ohio. And no, it's not "just farming"....although that will always remain the backbone of the industry. It's food science and processing, it's veterinary medicine, it's bioenergy and green research, it's water and air quality, and it's innumerable facets that impact your lives each and every day. If you think you're not involved in agriculture each and every day you are seriously fooling yourself.

So what did I learn in ag ed and FFA?  Life skills: I learned wood-working, record keeping, resume writing and welding (against my will and better judgement). I learned about forestry and animal production and care. I learned about crops and biology. And perhaps most importantly, I got motivated and learned about goal setting and that I could do anything I set my mind to. I was fortunate enough to be on our Ohio FFA state officer team for two years, and for one of those I was state FFA President. I traveled and met national leaders of our country. I had sit-down conversations with senators and congressmen. I asked direct questions to the Secretary of Education and met the President of the United States. I served on boards of real organizations and had innumerable experiences that shaped the rest of my life.

So imagine if you will the way my blood boiled this week when I read an article on elite university admissions preferences and diversity:

But what Espenshade and Radford found in regard to what they call "career-oriented activities" was truly shocking even to this hardened veteran of the campus ideological and cultural wars. Participation in such Red State activities as high school ROTC, 4-H clubs, or the Future Farmers of America was found to reduce very substantially a student's chances of gaining admission to the competitive private colleges in the NSCE database on an all-other-things-considered basis. The admissions disadvantage was greatest for those in leadership positions in these activities or those winning honors and awards. "Being an officer or winning awards" for such career-oriented activities as junior ROTC, 4-H, or Future Farmers of America, say Espenshade and Radford, "has a significantly negative association with admission outcomes at highly selective institutions." Excelling in these activities "is associated with 60 or 65 percent lower odds of admission."

...The Espenshade/Radford study suggests that those farm boys from Idaho would do well to stay out of their local 4-H clubs or FFA organizations -- or if they do join, they had better not list their membership on their college application forms. This is especially true if they were officers in any of these organizations. Future farmers of America don't seem to count in the diversity-enhancement game played out at some of our more competitive private colleges, and are not only not recruited, but seem to be actually shunned. It is hard to explain this development other than as a case of ideological and cultural bias.

Seriously? Are you kidding me? Kids who have the initiative and experiences these organizations offer are actually shunned in the admission process? I was appalled. Now I've told you how invaluable both 4-H and FFA were for me. But I was involved in other organizations in school, too: academic challenge, science club, National Honor Society, youth group, high school rodeo, etc. And I graduated valedictorian with a 4.0 GPA and a perfect scores on my ACT in reading and English. But none of my academic accomplishments or membership in other organizations even came close to the learning opportunities and experiences of 4-H and most especially FFA. The study also holds that these same prejudices apply to youth involved in organizations like ROTC.

Shame on those colleges and universities.

You want to know about life skills and what a difference these organizations can make with kids? You want to know about how kids develop character? Check out these other stories of Indiana 4-H members I ran across this week: they make me proud to have been a 4-H member. From a girl with no eyes who not only shows three Holstein cows but manages to care for them, too, to a boy in a wheelchair with cerebral palsy who coyboys up to compete in barrel racing with his pony...and from a 10-year 4-H member participating in her final state fair to city girl who recently moved to Indiana from Connecticut and attending her very first state fair ever with her Jersey dairy cow....these are the stories of children and young adults who are not afraid to try new things. They know the power of setting goals and working to accomplish them. And they know no limitations. 

And really, isn't that what our country needs more of? Not less?

Want to see youth like this in action? These are just four examples of the innumerable 4-H success stories that will be in action at this year's Indiana State Fair. Never been? Love it? Want to go back? Check out my giveaway of a "family 4-pack" of tickets to this year's Indiana State Fair...and lots of my friends are giving away tickets, too! Enter multiple times to increase your odds of winning!

Oh, the Indiana Soybean Alliance is providing tickets and meals for my family & I to visit the Indiana State Fair as well as the tickets for my giveaway.