FFA 85-86: From European Union back to the Heartland Vice President: Anne Henkels Straus Anne Henkels’ parents, Greg and Celia, encouraged their children in all that they did. Though being a farm wife herself, Celia Henkels told her daughter “never marry a farmer,” the younger Henkels recalls.“She loved the farm life, but she wanted us to experience more beyond the farm and have fun.” Anne did just that. Henkels had the luxury of having Keith Place as an adviser at the Heron Lake-Okabena High School FFA chapter; “he was really a guiding force. He encouraged me to get involved.” She actually credits Place and his wife, Julie, for bringing out the best in FFA students. Julie was the English teacher and speech coach at the high school, and a lot of FFA members were also in speech, “so we spent a lot of time at their place.” Henkels participated in speaking and judging contests, as well as holding chapter and district FFA offices. “We had a very active chapter,” she
said. “We just had a friendly competition among us.” That competitive spirit and Keith Place’s encouragement prompted the next logical step in Henkels pursuing a state FFA office. “That was a combination of me following my own goals and his (Place’s) support,” she said. She ran for state FFA office the spring of her freshman year at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. “That was a really great experience, a learning experience,” she said, admitting that it was challenging as well, juggling the full schedule of being a state officer and being a college student. “I had a lot of support,” she said. “Being on the St. Paul campus, there were a lot of students who were in 4-H and FFA and knew that it was a hectic time. They helped me get through it. ... there were times when I asked myself what the heck I had gotten myself into.” Henkels went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota with a degree in technical communications. Henkels spent some time in Washington, D.C., as an intern for Minnesota’s Third District Rep. Bill Frenzel and Sen. Rudy Boschwitz. She then interned
“Where Farm and Family Meet”
<< MILKER’S MESSAGE >>
THE LAND, APRIL 1, 2011
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with Farm Journal magazine before a six-month internship with the European Economic Community, a front-runner to the European Union, Henkels said. That exposure helped land Henkels a job with the European Report, a semi-weekly magazine where she basically covered the EEC’s equivalent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After three years with the European Report, she took advantage of a Rotary scholarship to achieve her master’s degree at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in Newcastle, England. She studied international ag trade policy in the one-year master degree program. She finally found her way back to the U.S. Heartland when she went to work for Cargill on the trading floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. After doing that for two years she had had enough and moved into financial planning. After 17 years of living in Chicago, she and husband, Peter Straus (a Chicago native), decided the big city was not the place to raise a family. “There is no place like home,” she said, as she, Peter, Kathryn, 6, and Emma, 4, made the move last year to their current home at Spirit Lake, Iowa. Anne and Peter work together in their home office of Henkels Financial Inc., with their primary focus “with individuals, mainly helping people plan for their kids’ college education and retirement.” — Kevin Schulz, The Land editor
No local FFA chapter HARDER, from pg. 15A One of the hardest parts of the family’s move to Zionsville, Ind., is that the school the young Harders attend does not have an FFA chapter. The children are getting their involvement from other school activities. “One of the upsides to moving here was that they didn’t have to measure up to what Mom and Dad did,” Harder said. — Kevin Schulz, The Land editor
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