The Animal Agriculture Alliance’s College Aggies Online (CAO) Scholarship program is a nationwide initiative aimed at helping college students and collegiate agriculture clubs utilize social media and communications to share agriculture’s story. One of the competitions was to write a blog post introducing themselves and sharing why they are passionate about agriculture. The winner of the blog post competition was Allyson Trimble, a junior studying animal science at the University of Florida.
Look at a map and find the state of Florida, once you find it locate the blue dot in the center of South Florida; that is the one and only Lake Okeechobee and the place I call home. My name is Allyson Trimble I am 21 years old and an Agricultural enthusiast and this is my story.
I grew up in Okeechobee County in the sunshine state of Florida. It is a relatively large county but most of it is open land, allowing the cattle population to far exceed the number of people.
FFA gave me a lot to be proud of
I was raised on my families’ small cattle farm that has about 40 brood cows. The herd is made up of old show heifers that my sisters and I raised through our time in 4-H and FFA. I really enjoyed showing cattle and I now enjoy learning about the ins and outs of running a cattle operation as my parents give me more management responsibilities.
I started as a member of 4-H when I was 8 years old, I then joined FFA my sixth grade year and continued active membership until my senior year of high school. Joining the FFA Organization was the greatest thing I did with my time in school. The FFA gave me invaluable leadership and communication skills. I will never be able to replace the memories, the education and the friendships I made during my time as a member.
I owe all that I am to my family, the agricultural industry of Okeechobee County, and my membership in 4-H and FFA. Without all of these I wouldn’t be the person I am today and I wouldn’t have developed a passion for the agricultural industry.
learning about college aggies online
My roommate is a College Aggies Online ambassador and she convinced me to participate in this year’s competition, I am glad she did. I am participating with the Gator Collegiate Cattle Women. I have enjoyed being able to advocate for a new sector of the industry each week as well as sharpen my advocating and communication skills. This contest constantly reminds me how diverse the agricultural industry is, and that there are so many things to learn.
I am currently a junior at the University of Florida where I am studying animal science with a focus in beef production. As most college students know, a common question is “What do you want to do?” Honestly, I don’t know the answer to the question; and that used to scare me, but I now realize a lot of people feel the same way. All I know is that I want to do something in the agriculture industry, preferably in the beef cattle segment. I want to give back to an industry that has given so much to me, I also want to love what I get to wake up and do day after day.
As much as I would like to be towards the top in the final placing’s, I mainly hope to make a difference in consumer perception of the agricultural industry. I see so many misconceptions shared through social media, so I hope that my post will make people think about and educate themselves on the things they share.
College Aggies is the reason I am writing to all of you today. One of the mini challenges was to write a blog post telling our stories. I was very excited when I found out that my entry won. I’ve always felt like my story is simple, so it was refreshing to see that someone enjoyed what I had to say. My story is far from complete, but I can’t wait to see where I end up in this world.
All posts are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the view of the Animal Ag Alliance.
