Welding not only keeps buildings together, it holds entire communities together. My name is Ryan Olson, and I am from a small, rural town in Nevada called Gardnerville. Growing up in this rural town, I watched how essential trades like welding became the heartbeat of daily life and a form of survival for our ways of life. In small towns like Gardnerville, higher education is seen as out of reach or an opportunity for rich students and their parents. Many of my friends entered the workforce right after high school or went to technical schools to learn trades to help support their families and my community. While I appreciated and advocated for my friends and their families, I was fortunate enough to find another opportunity: becoming an agriculture mechanics educator, teaching both the science and hands-on skills that rural students need to succeed. I found my purpose and direction early. Through hard work and dedication, I saved enough money to attend college and become an FFA State Officer, which deepened my passion for agricultural education and gave me the confidence to lead and serve others. In my community, we thrive on a network of skilled laborers: mechanics to keep our tractors running smoothly, machinists to make custom parts, and welders to hold our hard-earned labor to hold it together. Welding isn't simply a melting medal; it is a skill that restores faith in broken-down equipment and brings functionality back to farm and ranch operations. From a young age, I learned to appreciate and understand the skill of welding on my family's property and learned from my friends and family the skills I needed to help around my community. These experiences weren't simply "technical" but were foundational life lessons. I learned the value of responsibility, precision, and the satisfaction of knowing that hard work pays off in helping others. I came to appreciate the art of welding as a problem solver who contributes to others' successes. Today, I am a student at the University of Nevada, Reno, pursuing a degree in agriculture education, with an emphasis in agriculture mechanics through a local community college and animal sciences. My goal is to return to rural Nevada to educate students on the kinds of mechanical and welding skills that have supported our communities for generations. I want to inspire students to see trades as careers of dignity, impact, and opportunity. Welding is not just a tool but a bridge for who I wish to become. This scholarship would help me continue my path to becoming a teacher, mentor, and leader in rural Nevada by humbly supporting my higher education. I want to give back to the communities that helped shape me and ensure my students see the value in the future of welding, not just as a skill but as a foundation to build lives and strengthen our communities.

Born in the suburb of San Bruno, California, I was fully immersed in the California 4H program from the age of five. With the help of my family, I immersed myself in the leadership development and agriculture education opportunities of 4-H. My family chose to raise poultry and market goat projects to help me learn as much as I could. After school, I was always on our 4-H farm, working on the farm, helping other members, and looking after my project animals. Living in an area of mostly "city folk" proved challenging to my agricultural endeavors in such a big, sprawling city. Yet, I was resilient to learn as much as possible about my animals and what agriculture could and should be. In 2018, my family left the city for a more rural, livable life. Almost immediately, I was immersed in the local FFA chapter at my new school, and I made new connections, found new opportunities, and flourished in my new environment. Similarly to being on my old 4-H farm, I was always on the school's farm, checking animals and making new friends. By the following school year, I was elected my chapter's president, impacting my community and abroad through volunteering, fundraising, and member growth opportunities, such as helping those in Paradise, California, who had lost their homes in a devastating wildfire. Throughout my high school experience, I proved my service to others through opportunities in my school's leadership class, the National Honor Society, and the school district's Career and Technical Education (CTE) committee, to name a few. Finally, my senior year culminated in my election to the Nevada FFA Association State Officer team as the new State President, serving a one-year term of complete service to my state and helping advocate for agriculture education opportunities in my state and across the nation. I am attending the University of Nevada, Reno, to study agriculture education and continue my mission of service to the future generation of agriculturalists through CTE. Through my continuing service to the Nevada FFA Association as a Past State Officer, my work with the Nevada Junior Livestock Show, my involvement in the Nevada Agriculture Fair as a board member, and my continuing advocacy of agriculture education opportunities with the Nevada Farm Bureau and the Young Farmers and Ranchers program, I hope to continue sharing my passion for agriculture with others and inspiring youth to pursue career opportunities in the agriculture industry. After graduating from the University, I hope to use my agriculture education degree to provide my students with premier leadership, personal growth, and career success opportunities that they can use outside of traditional schooling. In the future, I hope to influence the next generation of agriculture educators by creating and sustaining a middle school agriculture science curriculum in Nevada. I plan to continue positively impacting my state, my students, and others to advocate for our agriculture industry. It was quite a switch from my urban upbringing to my rural life. However, I wouldn't change anything I have accomplished and worked for. My love and passion for the agriculture industry has grown from my youth to my adult life. This passion has culminated in my election to the State FFA Office, my advocacy for Nevada agriculture in the state and federal legislatures, and my continued involvement in my state's agriculture education program. The connections, opportunities, and impacts I have shared with others have brought so much joy and discomfort, yet I have found my strengths, and I continue to fight to preserve my newfound way of life and the lives of others.

If I was given $1000, my focus would be to put that money towards the college that I'll be starting this fall. I come from a small town, Gardnerville, Nevada. Originally I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in San Bruno. It was a somewhat tough upbringing trying to live and grow up in a metropolis. My family decided when I started high school to move out of the city and try living rurally. It was the best decision ever, however, living in the country has its pros and cons. One of those is lower-paying jobs. I've been trying to save money for college but it's hard as a high school student and in this community. With $1000, I'd be able to put that money towards my college textbooks, my dorm costs, and feeding myself. It would relieve pressure to save while being able to still go to my senior-year activities like prom. College isn't cheap, especially nowadays, and having some wiggle room to enjoy my senior year activities would really help.

We all have valuable and unique characteristics that make us who we are. I have found, as had author Myra Yadav, that “actions speak the language of your personality”. Some people find their qualities and personality traits early on-- in middle and high school. I found mine not very long ago. I look back as a high school senior and think how much I have grown in the past four fast-moving years. Through all this growth, I have found that my greatest quality is my ambition-- my drive to always pursue better. Pursuing perfection isn’t an easy thing to do. Most people give up on the word “perfection”. But, some people just don’t understand what a motivated mind and a goal will bring you. My ambition has led me to do some pretty cool things over the past few years. For example, at the age of 13, I decided that I wanted to become an amateur radio operator (better known as a Ham radio operator). I knew that this would be a very difficult thing to attain: having to study pre-calculus as I was struggling to even grasp pre-Algebra, learning about federal laws and regulations, but yet I was exploring the many STEM possibilities that could come from my licensing. After many months of studying, I took the exam. I passed, and I became a third-generation amateur radio operator and I looked forward to the many service possibilities that could come from my newly-processed license. Later that year, I was able to join the Internet-Radio Linking Project, becoming one of the youngest people to link radio frequency systems to Voice Over Internet Protocols. This allowed me to connect to many different ham radio stations throughout the world, and enabled a backup system for in-climate weather or natural disasters-- should they have arisen. Soon, I made my first impact on my community: joining a group of fellow amateur radio operators to bring radio to a group of middle school students. Not only was I able to share my hobby with students my age, but our group was also able to host an “Amateur Radio on the International Space Station” event and connect with an amateur radio operator on the International Space Station to talk to all of the students. Reflecting back on this experience, I realize that I helped make a huge impact on many of those students, and I hope that they will pursue STEM careers in the future. At my work, people talk to me all the time about their failed dreams or goals-- how they wanted to become a doctor, a diesel mechanic, a fireman, a rancher, a farmer, or even a professional football player. I am a firm believer in the power of the mind. In my own life, as I am training my show animals for a jackpot show, I often think about the steps of how to get that grand champion belt buckle. I break things down and I find ways to motivate myself to get that win. I have found that by getting myself driven and motivated to do something, I can find the courage and determination to finish what I started even if it isn’t… perfect. I also know that chances are I will better myself in my failures. I know that by having this positive growth mindset that I can get very far in my life and can achieve or pursue anything I put my mind to.