You Don't Know What You're Missing Until Its Gone

One of the main reasons that I decided to come to Virginia Tech was because I have always been under the impression that it was one of the, if not the best, agriculture school in the state. I love the fact that I can make a right hand turn off of Rt.460 onto Tech's campus, and see a cornfield on the left and the dairy complex on the right. The core values of agriculture life (hard work, perseverance, and sense of community) are ones that are instilled into every aspect of campus. They seep out of the classrooms, flow through the halls of the dorms, and even rise up out of the cracks in the drill field sidewalk and hover over the campus just like the early morning fog. It is almost as if the heart of my life at home has the same beat as my new life at Virginia Tech.
And people thought I was crazy when Tech was the only college I applied for. I might have put my chance of admittance on the line, but for me, it was Virginia Tech or bust.

Now that I’ve begun the process of attending classes, participating in school functions, and doing all the things that a normal freshman should do, I rarely get to experience the part of Virginia Tech that I enrolled for. I realize that as a first year student I need to get all my general education classes out of the way, and I like my classes a lot. Well, except for the Math Emporium. I hate that place. Why is it that the super-smart math students learn in a classroom, while the not-so-great-at-math students, who actually need the one on one help, have to learn it online in a huge, bland, hollowed out old J.C. Penny’s building jam packed with Mac computers? I also hate Mac computers.

Anyway…

So, I’m doing all the things I need to do, but I haven’t reached the point of doing what I want to do. I feel slightly disconnected to what I came here for: agriculture.

I know, I’m complaining, but this is a blog after all.

So, what do you do when you feel like something’s missing?

Stay as busy as possible.

I’m now working in the State FFA Office, joined Collegiate FFA and am interested in being on the executive board, keeping an eye on auditions for A Capella groups and musicals, and, even after 5 years of complaining about it, I have even contacted the VT Livestock Judging Coach to get a schedule of practice dates.

I might be missing my agriculture roots now, but I think that if I can stay busy (which I don’t think will be hard to do), time will fly and before I know it, I’ll be on my way to identifying breeds of cattle in an animal and poultry science class instead of solving a function for the variable X in Math 1015.

A Picture I Took During My First VT Football Game at Halftime

It was obviously the Orange Effect Game.

Self Discipline... or Lack Thereof.

This past week, we had an assignment in my Residential Leadership Community class to focus on an area that we would like to improve on over our first semester at Virginia Tech. We are to create an action plan, which is a detailed description of how we want to accomplish our goal, and we need to meet with our peer groups once a week to evaluate our progress.

After careful evaluation of my first few weeks of school, I have come to realize that I have almost zero self discipline.

My whole life I’ve been told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. I’ve been told when I need to be somewhere, and how I should prepare for it. Even during my year as a state FFA officer, my main duty was serving the needs of others, so my actions centered on what others wanted me to do.

Now, I’m not saying this is a bad thing at all.  By being dedicated to the needs of others, I’ve learned the importance of service and working for the greater good of all.  However, now that I’m on my own, making my own schedule, my own deadlines, and my own rules, I’m having a hard time following them because I don’t have motivation to, because my main drive to do well in the past has been to either please others or to work with a team on a common goal.

What I work for now is just for me.

(Presiding over the 84th Annual State FFA Convention this past June as the 2009-2010 President.)

So now, I’m re-evaluating my attack. My three main points of focus will be to stop procrastinating, taking the time to learn things right the first time, and to begin following the deadlines I set for myself. I have several methods to complete these goals, but my primary objective is to treat school like a job, so starting tomorrow (there’s my procrastination flaring up again) I’m going to wake up and be ready to start learning at 8:00 a.m. and not stop until 5:00 p.m.

Except for meals, of course. A girl’s got to eat. Especially when D2 has those Chocolate Days.

Also, my peer group will begin meeting at 8:00 p.m. tomorrow and continue every Monday night through the semester as a checks system to keep each other motivated and focused.

I’m pretty excited because I’m taking this on as more than just a class project for Leadership 1015. This is the beginning of the end for my procrastination and lack of self discipline.

Well, at least I’d like to think so. Wish me luck.

Animal, Vegetable, Sustainable?

The other night I was sitting in my room, working in the blue glow of my computer screen, when my ears began focusing on a conversation in my shared living room.
"Hey, everyone should start boycotting the potatoes in D2," I heard a girl's voice say.
A few people laughed, and then asked why they should do such a thing.
"Well, I've been reading the freshman common book for a class I'm taking, and it talks about how you should only eat locally grown food instead of food from the other side of the country. So, I asked the serving lady in D2 where the potatoes came from and she said they were from Idaho. So, now I'm boycotting them."

A craze has been sweeping across campus, sparked by this year's freshman common book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. And honestly, I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

The book, which highlights a year of the Kingsolver-Hopp family as they attempt to eat nothing but locally grown food in an effort to improve their health, decrease the miles that food must travel, and emphasizes that local food will make a more sustainable world.

While I am only a few chapters into the book, here are my observations thus far:

My feelings on locally grown food - Honestly, I like the concept of locally grown food. Being able to put a face to the person that grows your food not only increases consumer's confidence in their food supply, but also promotes job security of the local farmer. Plus, its nice that neighbors can support each other in that sense. However, you can't always find what you want that’s grown within a 100 mile radius.  For the "potato-boycotting" girl, potatoes may not be a big deal to give up in the "go local" movement. But I bet that if you suggested that she would have to give up her daily mocha-frappa-coffee-latte (because I don't think coffee beans are a local commodity in Southwest Virginia), you would have to clear the way for a near mental breakdown. It’s a nice idea, buying locally grown food, but it wouldn't be able to support people's demand. Plus, I'm not quite ready to give up sugar.


My feelings on locally grown food sustaining the world - In my humble opinion, I don't think that's going to happen. It is easy for Americans to say "Oh, I could easily do that!" because there are so many food venues to choose from: organic, natural, local, conventional, and many other markets.  As I said before, locally grown food would not be able to support the world's growing population: the current population is 6.8 billion people and it's expected to rise to over 9 billion by 2050. These approximate 2.2 billion people entering the world will need a place to live, turning potential farming land in to residential homes. Today, between 1-2 billion people are malnourished due to insufficient food, low incomes, and inadequate food distribution.

Facing the challenge to feed these numbers is intimidating and the way we need to tackle it, is through efficiency. It shouldn't be about what's trendy or popular, but about whats productive.

There is a balance for all these food markets, but at the end of the day, the most important task to accomplish is making sure as many people as possible get fed.

Home is Where the Heart is...

When people ask me where I'm from, they are normally amused by my answer:


"I'm from a teeny-tiny town you've never heard of called Weyers Cave, which is in Augusta County, right smack dab in between Harrisonburg and Staunton, up in the Valley."



I even have synchronized hand gestures to describe the location even further, according to the guys who live across the hall from me, because every time a new person wanders into the hallway between our suites, the inevitable occurs: "So, where are you from?"



It always makes me smile to see the guys jump at the chance to tell our guest before I can. I think they do this partly to pick on me, and partly because I come from a novelty town. Most of the people that live in my dorm are from Richmond, major cities near the coast, or, the highest percentage by far, NoVa (Northern Virginia). I, however, live in a town that is practically invisible on a map, unless, of course, you were specifically looking for it.



Many of my peers that I graduated with hated small town life. The kids I went to school with could not wait to get away, and as the countdown to graduation began my senior year, everyone wanted to broadcast their desperate need to leave Augusta County and move on to bigger and better things.



I was part of the minority, however. I never had this burning desire to leave and never come back. There are sometimes quirks about a small town community, like how EVERYONE knows either your dad or grandparents or even how the old ladies of the church know EVERYTHING about your life, whether you want them to or not. But many of my family friends have been close to the Slaven and Craun side of the family for the six generations that we've been here. We look out after each other like family.



After moving in to Virginia Tech, which seems like a long time ago, but in actuality, is not, I said I would walk my parents back out to the car when it was time for them to go. As we were walking, my dad, whom I am especially close with, gave me a really good piece of advice:

"There's a lot of people that go to this school, Morgan, from a lot of different places and backgrounds. You're a good kid, so don't try to be like the majority of people, make them want to be a little more like you. Just remember where you came from."



Just last night I had an in-depth discussion with my suitemate, who is originally from Nepal and now lives in Fairfax, about people's back grounds and culture. She was telling me what it was like to live in Northern Virginia and how people just regularly ignored the world outside of their own little bubble of friends and family. No one had any personal contact with the rest of people they lived and worked around every day, and she hates that.



I was proud to be able to tell her about my home town, even with its small population and quirks. I told her about it's history, and the sites, and the character of its people. I was proud to say that's where I came from.

(View from my front porch of the Valley)

The Quest for Strength

 As part of my Introduction to Agricultural Sciences and Leadership class requirements, I had to take the Strength Quest Survey, a 30 minute questionnaire that determines your own personal strengths combination from a list of 34 themes.

My top five dominate themes were the following:
1) Adaptability
2) Communication
3) Positivity
4) Harmony
5) Context

People find strength from many different sources whether its from the company they keep, experiences that they've had, or just their own personal drive.

For me, the main power source of my strength comes from my family. 


( Above: My immediate family on my Dad and Dana's wedding day. My sister, Madison, is seated to the far left, I am in the middle, my brother, Marshall, is seated on the right. My father, Jeff, and stepmother, Dana, are the happy couple kneeling behind.)
  It's because of my family's constant support and encouragement that I'm the person that I am today. I am not surprised to see these 5 themes as my top strengths, because I can see where I picked them up from family members.

Adaptability, my number one strength, is one that my brother also has. Marshall, almost 17, possesses many of the traits that describe adaptability: living in the moment, adjusting plans around unseen detours, and being generally flexible. Not many things upset Marshall and he has a "go with the flow" type of attitude, whether its letting me drive his truck, his new pride and joy, or letting us girls pick what to eat for supper (as long as he gets to eat at least half of his body weight in good food).

While communication is my second place characteristic, it is by far my father's number one.  Daddy, or Jeff, depending on who you are, has the gift of gab.  He likes to tell colorful stories, speak at community events, and gives instructions with extreme details. Many people have told me that I,too, share these traits. When I get picked on about my stories getting long winded, I just remind my audience that I am my father's daughter.

Positivity is definitely something that I picked up from my stepmother, Dana. As an Emergency Licensed Veterinary Technician, Dana works nights in a high stress environment at a local clinic .  However, she always has a radiant smile on her face when she walks in the door after a 16 hour long shift.  I admire Dana's personal perseverance and the many things that she has had to over come in her own life. Her constant reminder to me is to always find the silver lining in every situation.

Harmony is a trait of my sister. Madison is 15, going on 30.  Even though my sister is almost five years younger than I am, I admire her for her people skills. At such a young age she is able to create a sense of serenity out of any inclination of tension. She can direct a divided group toward common ground, and is so down-to-earth that meetings of any kind go smoothly with her at the helm.

Finally, my grandparents bring in the aspect of context.  Both my grandmother, Meme, and my grandfather, Pappy, remind me of the rich heritage that my family has.  I am the sixth generation to live on my family's farm and my grandparents have instilled in me a sense of pride because of this. They always give me advice based on their own personal experiences, but also encourage me to be my own individual.

Your family helps shape who you are as a person.  With these traits I am who I am, and I continue to grow with the support of those closest to me.

"Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?"
- Benjamin Franklin