LEAD Conference Brings Angus Jrs To Northwest

Last week nearly 200 National Junior Angus Members from around the country came to Seattle for a Leadership Conference. I gave an overview of agriculture in our region to participants and was impressed with their enthusiasm and interest in becoming better leaders.

 

National Junior Angus Association Board Member and Vice Chair Shane Kerner just retired from the board last month. She was at the event and she shares more

 

Kerner: “The conference we are in is Leaders Engaged in Angus Development and we call it LEAD. So we really focus on bring the kids — this time they don’t have any cattle — so that is always fun. We pick different places each year — kind of fun areas of the U.S. Kids come from every corner, nook and cranny of the country. We really focus on leadership development. We focus industry issues and how to handle them. So we really want to help the kids developed the leadership skills for not just Angus activities but for any other entities they have.”

 

LEAD activities included team building, breakout sessions learning more about ag careers with different agribusinesses. They did some Seattle sight-seeing as well with a visit to Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. They also visited a shellfish farm and an Angus operation.

 

The youth and chaperones I had the pleasure to meet were very excited to be at the event and were very involved not only in their state and regional Jr. Angus Associations but also in 4-H and FFA and other organizations as well.