Stephen "Mike" Flinders Agriculture and Animal Care Scholarship

Since a young age, I have always felt a deep connection to animals. Whether it was helping a hurt fawn or taking in a stray cat, I knew that caring for animals was not just something I enjoyed it was my passion in life and I want to do for the rest of my life. When I turned 7 years old I got my first horse and I was immediately hooked and knew this was something I would do for a very long time. Knowing nothing about caring for horses I turned to my fellow 4-H members who helped me guide my way in the proper care of my horses. Now I am the president of my 4-h horse club and I hope to be that person the younger members. This passion I began to feel for the caring of animals has radiated through my life. The amount of happiness animals have caused in my life is the main reason I have decided to dedicate my future into caring and helping animals. For 10 years I have had horses and I have always been extremely fascinated in the health of them. I own preformance horses that I ride in hunter jumper classes and speed events like barrel racing and pole bending. With these sports the ability to maintain the horses health has always been top priority for me and my family. I am always looking up new ways to exercise and stretch them to keep them in peak condition and health. Now I am blessed to have a job at a veterinarians clinic where I'm a veterinary assistant. In this position I load rooms where I take down the animals weight, symptoms they are having and I take their temperature then imform the doctors. I help the vet techs with drawing blood, running tests, holding animals, filling medicines among other things. I also assist the veterinarians in the rooms with holding the animals drawing up vaccines and other shots. This amazing opportunity has sparked a fire in my passion for caring for animals. I look at animals in a completely different light after all the new imformation i'm getting through my time at the vet's clinic. I have been accepted and enrolled into Morehead State University where I am majoring in applied Veterinary Technology. I am so excited to purse my passion in caring for animals, I can't wait to start college! I will learn the fundamentals in caring for animals and I cannot wait!

"Ew ... What's that smell" yelled one kid from across the band hall. It has happened to us all, we finish taking care of our livestock and you step in a big pile of crap! Hi, I'm Jonah Rose and I've been in the livestock part of the agriculture business for two years. My Ag. Journey started nine years ago. It didn't start as the traditional Texans journey starts, that's mainly because I wasn't a Texan when it started, I was a full blown hockey loving, snowball throwing, maple tree tapping Canadian. It all started In Valleyview Manitoba at the local 4-H club. Here I was mainly introduced to woodworking and a little bit about equine, that's where I learned how to saddle a horse and make a fine hot chocolate. While Learning Woodworking my Teacher, Mr. Mummery, taught me countless lessons that could be applied in both the shop and in everyday life. I still find myself today quoting Mr. Mummery's wise words of "Measure twick, cut once" and "A good woodworker isn't perfect in his work, he is smart and knows how to hide and fix his mistakes." Mr. Mummery's lessons were what really gave my Ag Journey the spark it needed. Fast forward seven years, when I've been a Texan for two years, my Ag Teacher, Mr. Howard, comes up to me and asks if I wanted to show a pig and told me that he thought it would be beneficial for me. Obviously, Me being the naive foolish young man I was, said yes without hesitation. Because I was not licensed yet, This is the part of my journey that my mom wasn't the most happy about. After my first year of showing I learned lessons like: be gentle with your pig, remain calm (even when your pig goes for your knees), never whip your pig out of anger, and most importantly become your pig's best friend. With these four important lessons going into my second year I was able to teach my little sister how to properly love, care, and walk her pig. Without blindly going headfirst into the pig business I would never have gotten the opportunity to lead my sister into such a fulfilling journey. I also wouldn't have been able to inspire the majority of the little 5th graders to pursue a journey that will teach them patience, discipline, respect, and showmanship. As my senior capstone, for lack of a better word, I've been able to apply all that I've learned in the past seven years regarding the Ag. Mechanics and condense it into one project. This capstone project was a 4'x4' Shop Welding Table, this table had spots to hold welding electrodes, spots to plug in grinders and welders, spots for hanging tools, saddling pipe, adjusting to become a level surface. I was only able to create such an intricate table because of the patience and creativity Mr. Mummery taught me, or the welding and craftsmanship Mr. Howard taught me. or the simi cool shop tables both of them had. As my Ag. Journey closes its high school chapter and the career chapter opens. My first steps are going to master the mechanics bit of the trades. After mechanics, I will be going full into my business where I will eventually launch a campaign that will provide shop space, materials, teachers, tools and everything needed to teach all who want to learn the trades and further their Agriculture journey.