Every other year, the National Junior Hereford Association hosts a leadership conference called P.R.I.D.E which stands for
Program
Reaching
Individuals
Determined to
Excel. The 2012 P.R.I.D.E. conference was held in East Lansing, Michigan in conjunction with Michigan State University. There were 60 attendees from 23 states and 2 participants from Canada. It was a fun filled three days!
The 12 NJHA Board Members, our fearless leader Amy, the greatest NJHA intern Bailey, and our mascot "Scotch" came early to Michigan for a Board Retreat. Getting to Michigan was an interesting trip for all of us. I do believe that all of us were delayed at least some amount of time, some flights overbooked which caused members to have long lay-overs, and some not arriving till the next day so the week had an interesting start. I was gone for one week for my adventure to Michigan. The Board Retreat took place near Leland, Michigan on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan. We are priveleged to have such wonderful and kind folks in the Hereford industry. We stayed at the Edmund F. Ball family cabin which is the family of Tim and Nancy Keilty of Cottonwood Springs Farm.
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Before heading south to East Lansing,
we visited Keilty's farm |
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The cabin we stayed at was the Ball family. You know
those great Ball mason jars? Yes, that is the family we
were so graciously associated with. |
The weekend retreat is exactly what ALL of us were needing! The weather was perfect, the hospitality was wonderful, and the bonding time was unbelievable. The weekend was not all play as we did have a meetings regarding the workshops for P.R.I.D.E (Mastering Your Agvocacy, Robert's Rules of Order, and Do's and Don'ts of Your Wardrobe), revamping our By-Laws and Code of Conduct, and writing many Thank Yous for the 2012 Junior National Hereford Expo.
But to discuss our play time! There was a lot of it but it was so relaxing on our private beach, an adorable historic fishtown nearby for food, gifts, and ICE CREAM! I think we rode our bikes into town about 3 times a day just so Jason could get his Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream from the Dam Candy Store.
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Biked to town on a daily basis. Automatic shifting
bikes were a new experience for a lot of us causing
injuries to our ankles and Brady's face! |
We also played a lot of football on the beach, kayaked, attempted the paddle board, swam, jumped off the cans, soaked up the sun, buried Matt in the sand, ferry ride on the water around the area, jet skiied and tubed, ate a lot of scrumptious food, more bike rides, sat in the sauna even though it was 90* outside, nightly campfires on the beach, and became a much closer group of friends that we are definitely more like a family. I think that most of us would say that is was the best weekend we've had in a long time!!!
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| Intense games of football were had |
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| Buried Matt on the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan |
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Scotch made a new friend while at the cabin as the entire
cabin had several cheetahs, leopards, water buffalo,
gazelle, and several other animals mounted. |
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| Kayaks were a hit! Even used to pull us around on floaties! |
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| Ferry ride with our advisors Bob & Jamie Goble |
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| Breath taking sunsets every evening |
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#TeamLegendary
Matt, Tamar, Jaime, Austin |
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Nightly beach campfires where stories were told
and memories were made |
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2012-2013 NJHA Board
Elise, Matt, Tamar, Keysto, Courtney, Austin
Jaime, Krissi, Jason, Kristin, Brady, Shleby |
The weekend at the lake was simply wonderful, none of us wanted to leave! We contemplated just having the rest of the P.R.I.D.E. attendees join us at the cabin, but we did pack our bags, loaded Scotch up, took in the view one last time and headed 4 hours south to East Lansing to prepare for the leadership conference.
Sunday evening we enjoyed some pizza from one of the local favoirtes, Leo's Lodge, where we met up with the Junior Maine Association members that were just going to be leaving their leadership conference.
Monday arrived and so did other Hereford enthusiasts! Monday evening was kicked off by some ice breakers, a keynote speech from Justin Ransom, a delicious steak dinner, followed by game night!
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| Justin Ransom from Chicago. |
Mr. Ransom left me with several take away messages. He talked about how we need to adapt to change and that change is not a bad thing but takes a lot of work to get there through the right path.
"Hard work trumps talent"
"Out work everyone else"
"Don't worry about who gets the credit"
"Live with the end in mind"
"Find the one thing that drive YOU"
"The most risky decision is not making one" - as the future of the agriculture industry, we are faced with a lot of decisions
"The most powerful tool for succes is Failure" because you learn from your mistakes
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| NJHA Board with Justin Ransom |
GAME NIGHT
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| Apples to Apples |
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| Apples to Apples |
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| Wii and Xbox |
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| Guestures |
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| Spoons |
Tuesday was a busy day at Michigan State University where we heard from several knowledgeable faculty members on topics of form to function in beef cattle, food safety, meat science, herd health programs, proper processing, tagging, tattooing, and body scoring of cattle, and we also talked about evaluating cattle and judged a couple of classes while at the Purebred Beef Cattle unit.
A huge THANK YOU to all of the MSU faculty members that helped put this event together and shared their knowledge with us: Dr. Dave Hawkins, Dr. John Shelle, Ms. Sara Wells, Ms. Jennifer Dominguez, Dr. Dan Grooms, Dr. Dan Buskirk, and Cody Sankey.
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Dr. Dave Hawkins
Campus Tour Guide
Retired Professor |
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Dr. John Shelle
Form to Function in Beef Cattle |
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Ms. Sara Wells
Food Safety and Meat Science |
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Dr. Dan Grooms
Herd Health |
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Dr. Dan Buskirk
Body Condition Scoring |
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Cody Sankey
Proper tagging, tattooing, and branding |
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Livestock Judging and Evaluation
with Cody Sankey |
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The entire P.R.I.D.E group outside of the
Purebred Beef Cattle Unit barn |
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After a day full of activities on MSU campus
we headed to a water park to cool off and have FUN! |
Wednesday was our last full day together as everyone would load up and head home Thursday morning. The morning started with an amazing motivational speaker, Heather Schultz of Georgia. We have used Mrs. Schultz at past P.R.I.D.E. conferences but felt it was a good time to invite her back. She was wonderful and got everyone involved while touching our hearts and making us think about our attitudes and where we want our future paths to take us. She truly believes in us as youth and encourages us to believe in ourselves and that we the youth which is 26% of the population but 100% of the future, have the power to change the world. She also left me with a couple of take away messages and I also bought her book for future inspiration!
Belive. Truth. Hope. ForGIFTness.
"You are either a contaminator or a contributor
in this world so choose your attitude."
"There is a price attached to every decision; decide wisely."
"Like, love, and respect yourself first."
"I AM NOT AVERAGE, BUT I AM EXTRAORDINARY!"
Mrs. Schultz did a couple team building workshops with us and then we split up and the NJHA Board did their own workshops. I was a part of the Mastering your Agvocacy. We discussed the Masters of Beef Advocacy program through the NCBA. Several of us already have obtained this degree but we encouraged the others to look into this 6 part program on the facts of the beef industry and how to talk to consumers about industry issues. We gave them two scenarios to think about how they would react. We dicussed how to use the facts, tell your story/experiences, share photos, and use emotions when talking to individuals. It is also important to stay calm, cool, and collected even if it boils you or they are upset and attacking you. As Matt said, "you can't fight fire with fire."
Scenario #1: An animal rights activist approaches you at he Jr. National Hereford Expo and asks, "how can you keep your animal tied up like that all day long?"
Scenario #2: Your school cafeteria is proposing to move to a Meatless Monday menu. Howdo you present your idea to oppose the situation?
How would you react in such situations???
After the morning workshop sessions were finsihed, we loaded the bus and headed to Grand Haven State Park along Lake Michigan to going swimming, play volleyball, and visit one of the 115 lighthouses in the state of Michigan. Then, we loaded up again to visit two of our nations prestigious Hereford Breeders- Grand Meadows Farm of the Bielema Family and Ridgeview Farms of the Goble Family. After the tour of Goble's, everyone enjoyed a steak dinner and a barn dance. I was sadden that I had to leave shortly after arriving at Bielema's to catch my flight back to Sioux Falls in order to make it back to work Thursday morning for Keya Paha County Achievement day and BKR Fashion Revue.
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The group at Ridgeview Farms
Last stop on the P.R.I.D.E. tour |
As the week came to an end it was a 'mega fun' P.R.I.D.E. where we all made new friends or grew closer, took in a lot of beautiful sites, learned a lot about the beef industry and how to become a better leader, and were priveliged to see some wonderful Hereford cattle.
Again, a huge THANK YOU to the faculty at Michigan State University, The Bielema Family, The Goble Family, the rest of the NJHA Board, AHA Field Representative John Ments, Youth Director Amy Cowan, and Youth Director Intern Bailey Clanton on making the 2012 P.R.I.D.E. Leadership Conference a SUCCESS!!!
