One of the best feelings is sitting in a tree stand early in the morning, patiently waiting for the sun to rise and then witnessing the whole woods waking up together. Or maybe it’s digging your hands in the dirt and planting a little sapling, something seemingly so measly at the time, and witnessing it growing day by day. Then before you blink you’re collecting your harvest from a plant God so tenderly orchestrated the growth of. It's quite possible that there is no "best feeling", because to just name one would be an injustice to the beautiful outdoors we’re so blessed to have. The outdoors is a magnificent place that’s disregarded too easily. There’s beauty in all of it, however there are things that are special to me because of experiences I've had. One of my favorite parts of the outdoors is how unique it is everywhere you go. I’ve gotten to hike the stunning mountains of Denali and Acadia National Parks, explore the east coast’s coastline and the beauty that New England holds, adventure around the mountains and waterfalls of Northern Georgia, and even visit volcanoes in El Salvador. Yet despite all of this, nothing can take away from the beauty I see in my own backyard in a little rural town in Pennsylvania. What I love the most about the outdoors is how you don’t have to travel far to experience its beauty, it’s everywhere you go. Although so much of my love for the outdoors came from personal experiences such as these, it also came from learning about how it works and functions. I couldn’t attribute just one person for being instrumental in my choice to pursue agriculture in my future, but I’d rather credit a whole organization. During my freshman year of high school I took an introduction to agriculture class, which introduced to the National FFA Organization and my personal FFA chapter. This organization immediately sparked my interest, so despite COVID restrictions I managed to get involved and receive my FFA jacket. The following years I continued to be very involved and eventually went on to be the Gifford Pinchot FFA Chapters Student Advisor and graduate as it’s President. Throughout those four years I had the opportunity to take eight agriculture courses, all of varying focuses. These courses were always the best part of my day, not only did I get to be hands on with things I had a genuine interest in, but I got to do it with a community of people who shared my same passions. FFA gave me an amazing opportunity to get involved in the agricultural community and experience what a career in it might be like. I was able to compete in competitions, attend leadership conferences, and most importantly have multiple SAE’s (Supervised Agricultural Experiences). Some of my SAE’s included volunteering 60+ hours at a therapeutic horseback riding barn, working on a produce farm, and my employment at an archery and hunting store. These opportunities, that I might not have had without FFA, played a huge role in creating a passion within me for agriculture and the outdoors. All of those experiences taught me different things in different ways, however they all taught me that agriculture is an amazing community of people working to meet human needs by utilizing the beautiful outdoors that God created. I truly feel as though a career in agriculture, specifically using agriculture for ministry, perfectly utilizes my love for the outdoors and passion for helping others, which is why I’m so excited to see what my future has in store.

This new chapter of my life that I will be stepping into is so exciting for me, as I will be focusing on both agriculture and ministry, my two biggest passions. During my freshman year of high school I became involved with agricultural education through the national FFA organization. FFA and agriculture courses are very influential in my life and taught me the importance of agriculture in our society and world, and also leadership skills and how to communicate with others. FFA gave me many opportunities to grow myself by providing me with many volunteer opportunities, extended agricultural education, and leadership positions. I had the honor of serving as our FFA chapter by being the Student Advisor and also as being the current President. These positions have benefited me greatly and have given me the confidence and empowerment to achieve my future goals and be a leader in my community. I am very thankful for my involvement in FFA because I feel prepared to go into a field of agriculture, and I also feel ready to join in as a beneficial and involved member of my community as well. However, in my future I don’t want to just be involved in agriculture, I plan to be involved in ministry as well. I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family and grow a personal relationship with God as I grew up. I have felt a great calling to ministry and believe that it is the way I can best help my community. I am very thankful to have already had many ministry opportunities, such as going on missions trips to El Slavador and Alaska, as well as locally, such as volunteering with Vacation Bible School and serving meals to people in need. These opportunities have helped reveal to me what my calling and goal in life is, which is to help others in my community. Both agriculture and ministry play huge roles in my life, which is why I am so eager to pursue them together in my future. If I could pick what exactly I was doing as my future career, it would be running a missions farm. A mission farm is a very unique ministry style which entails running a farm that grows produce and raises animals such as goats and chickens, things that are commonly raised overseas such as in the Middle East. The goal of this farm is to have a program in place for refugees where they can work on the farm, using skills that they may already have from when they lived in their home country. While they are working on the farm and going through the program they would be taught other important employment skills such as how to interact in an interview or how to speak English if they do not already. Once finished with the program they would be able to leave the farm and get a better job than they could have gotten before due to their work experience and developed employment skills. To reach this goal and have the ability to pursue other agricultural and ministry career opportunities as well, I plan on attending a four year college to study sustainable community development or another agricultural ministry major. This education will provide me with the knowledge and furthered career skills to achieve these goals and carry out my dream of helping others and make an impact on my community.