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. |
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! |
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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 |
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 |
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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!!!
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