PERSPECTIVE
Same Countries, Different Decades BY LIZA ROBERTSON
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SEMINARS CLASS 15 / 1986: SOVIET UNION, POLAND, GERMANY, EUROPE
CLASS 29 / 2000: CHINA, MONGOLIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, POLAND
CLASS 41 / 2012: RUSSIA, UKRAINE, POLAND, CZECH REPUBLIC
CLASS 50 / 2021: GERMANY, POLAND, CZECH REPUBLIC No matter where they traveled, all alumni are connected by the lasting impact of their international seminar. As the fellows of Class 50 returned from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, alumni from classes 15, 29 and 41 found themselves reflecting on their own experiences in those same countries. For Diane Friend (15), Tess Dunham (29) and Matt Fisher (41), the international seminars were more than an opportunity to travel; they changed their perspectives on the world, leadership and history. Diane Friend (15) Assistant Professor, Agribusiness Texas A&M What were some of the most impactful moments of your time in Poland and Germany? One of the things that really struck me as being most impactful in Poland was the fact that the Polish farmers we met with still talked about World War II as if it had happened yesterday. We met with a pork producer in Poland who was doing some pretty innovative things back then. I’m going to Poland soon and will be meeting with the same farmer again. At the time of our international seminar, Poland was under communist rule and farmers were rising up. This particular farmer had been persecuted by the government and put in jail for a few days. We could see there was a movement within the farmer community against the Soviets. The Polish people, but the farmers especially, would rather die than be oppressed. There was a fine line in those days – the Soviets needed Poland because they were producing most of the food, but the government would oppress them by limiting the supplies they had access to. This farmer was quite outspoken and we thought he had a lot of guts to go against the Soviets.
12 HORIZONS MAGAZINE WINTER 2022
We visited a university in Germany and met with students who gave us a tour. After somebody mentioned the war and that we had been to Auschwitz, we got into a debate with the students over what had really happened in World War II and the Nazi occupation. They completely denied the fact that the concentration camps actually existed and claimed it was a conspiracy campaign. It gave me the sense of how governments can control the narrative and what people know. In this moment we went from a communist country to a free democracy. It was a dichotomy of government control in a different way than in Poland. Is there a lesson learned during the international seminar that is still meaningful to you today? I was in my 20s during this trip and it really set my views on the way I live my life. It showed me that being a leader is not always easy, and not very popular sometimes. Being a leader does mean from time to time you’re going to get crosswise of the political wind and you need to be willing to sacrifice for that. At that time, we were still in the Cold War, Ronald Reagan was president and Gorbachev had just come in. It was a very interesting time in history to be in a communist controlled country. I didn’t realize what an impact that made on my life back then, but it really makes me look at where we are today and think about the sacrifices those Polish farmers were making. What is your advice to Class 50 fellows now that they’ve returned from their international seminar? I think they should write. They need to write articles, editorials in some form or fashion on social media or blogs. When you first get back, everyone wants to know about your trip – it’s all fresh and novel and neat and then the years go by and it fades. The urgency to continue leadership needs to go on. The things they’ll see and experience are what the world needs to hear a lot and frequently. What is your advice for leaders? We think of leadership as holding a position, but every day we have a responsibility to be a leader. You need the skills to be an everyday leader. We need to use our leadership skills to influence people and make change, and we can do that at the smallest level without ever holding a title or position. The advice I would give is don’t use your place in society, be the leader at the smallest times, all the time. What lesson do you carry with you from Ag Leadership? The love to learn. Ag Leadership really did plant a seed in me of lifelong learning. Don’t ever be satisfied with what you know today. Even though I had a degree, it put me on a trajectory of lifelong
