NEWS A Texas Team Ag Ed Publication
December 2018
#TammyTalks
Tammy Christian, Penelope
Howdy from San Antonio Texas! We are here this week for the NAAE conference. I must admit, it has been an incredibly busy last few weeks. Area LDEs, a trip to Duncan, swine validation, major show entries, and the list goes on. The week prior to Thanksgiving, I began trying to plan ahead and prepare. I knew I would be gone this week, and with major show entries due on December 1st, I thought I had done a decent job of preparing. Even with a week off for Thanksgiving break, I seemed to do something for school or work, most everyday. As I sat down after a day of Thanksgiving festivities, it occurred to me that I had not written this article! We are preparing to interview our four finalist for the position of Executive Director, Cory Green, Ray Pieniazek, Kevin Swor and Russell Thomas. We will do face to face interviews at our December 9th board meeting, and we will determine who fill that position. Continuing my journey, I decided that I would major in agribusiness. This decision would allow some options, I could possibly find a place in agriculture, but if not, I would have the business background I could use in another area. I was determined that once I declared my major, I would not change my mind. As I worked on the decision of where I would attend
college, it became evident, that maybe attending a junior college first would be best for me. I am not sure I was ready, academically, to attend a larger university. While I do not discredit the education or teachers that I had at Penelope I.S.D., I do not think there was as much focus on college preparation at that time. It even became more evident, when I enrolled in couple of college classes my senior year. In May of 1984, I graduated high school and enrolled at Hill College to begin classes in the fall, with plans to transfer to Sam Houston State once my basics were complete. As a freshman, I had attended the State LDEs on the Sam Houston campus and it left a lasting impression. My parents really did not encourage me to find a job while attending college, they wanted me to focus on school. While taking one particular agriculture class, I learned of an opportunity to work as a field scout for the county entomologist, scouting wheat. I went to the office and applied and ended up getting the job. It worked well with my schedule, I got to interact with farmers all over the county and actually become familiar with parts of the county I had never seen. That job led to scouting cotton and milo during the summers as well. In the
spring of 1986, I graduated from Hill College with an associates degree. I was off to Sam Houston that fall. To be continued... It is hard to believe that in a few short weeks this first semester will be done. Many of you are headed to the state LDE’s this weekend, receiving fruit, and preparing for fall semester exams. While there is still plenty of activities, I typically find, things slow a bit as we move to the Christmas holidays. Take a breath, if at all possible, because following Christmas break, you might need to hold on to your wig! Now that my entries for majors are complete, I can begin to plan for those trips to the livestock shows. Continue on page 2