Miller receives FFA honor

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

UNIONTOWN -- Years of hard work and dedication have paid off for Uniontown High School student Alexandria Miller.

Miller, a senior FFA student at UHS, recently learned that she is the recipient of the Southeast District FFA Star Farmer award for 2009. Each year, the award recognizes outstanding FFA members for their work with Supervised Agriculture Experience Programs. SAE programs are teacher-supervised, individualized, hands-on student developed projects that give students real-world experience in agriculture or related areas.

"It feels good," Miller said on how she felt about receiving the award. "Obviously, there's a lot of time and work put into it. It's something I've been working toward since my freshman year. It's an honor."

Miller, the daughter of Roger and Laura Miller, Hiattville, was chosen to receive the award by a committee of agriculture education instructors and business professionals who interviewed Miller earlier this year after she applied for the Star award. She will now compete to become the Kansas FFA Star Farmer, and will interview in April on the state level against the winners of the other six FFA districts in Kansas.

"Alex has proven herself as a highly motivated, innovative leader for our FFA chapter and the Southeast District," UHS FFA instructor Kevin Gleason said. "She isn't satisfied with doing things halfway, she's always striving for perfection and looking for ways to improve herself and others around her."

Roger Miller said he and his wife are proud of their daughter for earning this achievement, and for her hard work in area 4-H and FFA organizations.

"Her mother and I are very proud," he said. "The last four years, she's worked really hard to accomplish her goals. She's made a big impact on the 4-H kids and the goat program in Bourbon County. She's helped several kids."

Alexandria said the award means a lot to her, and is an asset for any student who seeks to study agriculture or related topics after high school.

"It ranks at the top of my list," she said. "If you're going to an agricultural school, it's definitely another feather in your hat."

Miller's SAE program focused on the production of Boer goats, a breed of goat developed in South Africa in the early 1900s that is typically used for commercial meat production. She has shown her goats at the local, state and national levels with a very high degree of success, Gleason said.

Miller said she plans to attend Redlands Community College in Oklahoma to major in goat reproduction, specializing in artificial insemination and embryo transfer, and would eventually like to start her own business in that field.

Miller said she has been involved in FFA her entire high school career, and has had an interest in agriculture her whole life.

"Agriculture in general has been a lifelong thing for me," she said.

Roger, who farms and raises cattle, said his participation in 4-H and FFA when he was younger, as well as when his children were much younger, played a part in getting all of his kids involved in the organizations. Alexandria's sister, two brothers, and grandfather also helped influence her interest in farming and agriculture, Roger said.

"She had been raised around all of it," he said.

When she was younger, Alexandria showed interest in a different aspect of FFA than her siblings, Roger said.

"The kids all showed steers, heifers, hogs, pigs," he said. "She's the only one who showed goats. She just decided she wanted to raise goats."

In addition to her involvement in the livestock SAE program, Miller has also been very active in the leadership aspect of the FFA. She has attended FFA leadership events in the district, state and national levels, and has served as the Uniontown FFA chapter president for the past two years. She also served for two years as a district FFA officer, and has served as district vice-president and district treasurer.

Roger said Gleason has also been instrumental in helping Alexandria become successful in FFA during her high school years.

"This is the culmination of four years of a wonderful FFA experience and we owe Mr. Gleason a lot for his support and efforts," he said.

The Southeast District FFA organization recognizes outstanding FFA members for their work with SAE programs by presenting three awards each year; the Star Farmer award, the Star in Agriculture Placement award, and the Star in Agribusiness award.

Award recipients are chosen from a pool of state FFA degree recipients who will receive their degree at the Kansas FFA Convention in June. This year, there will be 30 FFA members from the Southeast District -- which is composed of 24 schools -- who will receive FFA degrees this year at the convention, including five recipients from Fort Scott and two students from Uniontown.