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Note to Editors: Adapted from the Kansas Profile radio series, this column profiles a different Kansan, Kansas community or Kansas-based company every Wednesday, as a regular feature of the K-State Research and Extension News lineup. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. Released: March 12, 2008 Kansas Profile – Now, That’s Rural  What are the odds? What are the chances that, out of 500,000 FFA members nationally, a student from Kansas would be elected one of the six national FFA officers? Mathematically, it’s a small probability. Since no state can have more than one candidate, the odds must be even smaller that in a single year, two of the six national FFA officers would come from the same university. In fact, we believe it has never happened before – until October 27, 2007. On that day the new national FFA officers were elected and not one but two came from Kansas State University. It’s another in our series on national ag leaders from the state of Kansas. Becky Sullivan and Morgan Parker are students in the College of Agriculture at K-State. Becky and Morgan were elected national FFA officers in October 2007. Special thanks to K-State Agriculturist magazine writer Allison Crook, whose article about Morgan and Becky provided a source for this profile. Becky and Morgan took two different paths to become national FFA officers. Becky grew up in eastern Kansas. She is a member of the Spring Hill FFA Chapter. Her family’s mailing address is Paola, but they actually live near the rural community of Hillsdale, Kansas, with an estimated population of about 200 people. Now, that’s rural. Becky was active in FFA contests and activities. Her supervised agricultural experience program consisted of small animal production, specifically rabbits. Becky raised rabbits and showed them all over the country. In October 2007, she was elected National FFA Secretary. Morgan Parker’s supervised agricultural experience program was more grounded in larger-scale production agriculture, as his family operates a farm supply business in eastern Colorado. However, when he came to high school in Limon, Colorado, there was no ag education program in which to take classes. So Morgan worked with his local principal, surveyed student interests and helped create a new ag program and FFA chapter in his school. That’s kind of like building your own racetrack and then winning the race. Morgan served as a state FFA officer in Colorado and chose to attend K-State for college. In October 2007, he was elected National FFA Vice-President for the Central Region. In the coming year, both K-Staters will travel thousands of miles to visit FFA chapters, attend conferences and workshops, and go overseas. To prepare for the rigorous interview process to become a national FFA officer, both Becky and Morgan asked other K-State students to serve as coaches. Their friends and coaches put them through several rounds of practice interviews, workshops, and presentations. Both officers credit their family, friends, teachers, and coaches with helping them achieve their goal. Morgan says, “I have a huge cheering section.” Becky says, “I have so many supporters. I am so lucky.” They also credit their active involvement with K-State’s College of Agriculture. Becky says, “I think if I hadn’t come to K-State, I wouldn’t be as involved.” And they helped each other. Becky says, “It almost felt like we were K-State teammates. Now we are FFA teammates.” K-State President Jon Wefald says, “Only six young men or women are elected as National FFA Officers each year, so for a university to produce one national officer in a year is a tremendous achievement. Yet in 2007, the K-State College of Agriculture produced two of the six national officers. This is like hitting two home runs in your first two major league at-bats. Having two national FFA officers from the same university in a single year is unprecedented, and it reflects the legacy of excellent leadership from Kansas State University and its College of Agriculture.” What are the odds? Unlikely as it seems, two of this year’s six national FFA officers come from K-State. We commend Becky Sullivan and Morgan Parker for leadership that is making a difference in the lives of students all across the nation. And
there’s more. Up next is the conclusion of our series on national ag leaders
from Kansas. To find that person, I had to go no further than my own kitchen
table. We’ll learn about that next week. K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan. For more
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