Twenty high school seniors from across the state recently participated in Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Oklahoma Youth Leading Agriculture conference May 28-31 in Oklahoma City.
OYLA is a four-day annual event hosted by the OKFB Young Farmers & Ranchers to prepare high school students for a future career in agriculture and to advance their leadership skills.
The 20 students who attended were Bridger Arrington, Mullhall; Brance Barnett, Dill City; Bailey Beggs, Foss; Paisley Beshear, Cameron; Kaylee Blagden, Mulhall; Sydney Coleman, Checotah; Coy Davidson, Lawton; LeAundre Delonia, Okmulgee; Amos Grimes, Meeker; Kalen Groves, Beggs; Jocelyn James, Ada; Kaylee Junghanns, Medford; Haley Kretchmar, Purcell; Heath Laubach, Woodward; Wesley Lester, Muskogee; Lynlee McCurry, Locust Grove; Tobie Mitchell, Marlow; Addyson Schneberger, Carnegie; Allison Tillinghast, Collinsville; and Paisley White, Fairview.
“What I’ve enjoyed most is being around kids that have the same interests as I do and enjoy being around the agriculture industry, but who are also leaders in their communities and chapters,” said Addyson Schneberger, OYLA student.
Throughout the week, the group had the opportunity to tour local agricultural enterprises including Lopez Foods, Whitmore Farms, the Oklahoma City Zoo, the Oklahoma State University Student Farm and the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center. Students also volunteered at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, learned about agricultural policy and how bills get placed into law and discovered how to share agriculture with their communities with the Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom program.
The conference also allowed students to learn more about Farm Bureau’s work for agriculture and rural Oklahoma by visiting with OKFB President Rod Moesel.
Participants of the conference are selected through an application process. The students selected represent some of Oklahoma’s most promising high school agriculturalists.
The students attending the conference plan to pursue a wide variety of agricultural degrees after high school, including agribusiness, agricultural communications, animal science and plant and soil sciences.
