A Southern Arkansas University student has been installed as president of the national FFA organization.
Taylor McNeel will be the voice of almost 630,000 junior high and high school students.
McNeel, 20, is a junior agriculture business major. She’s returned to Magnolia to finish her fall semester early before she takes a year off to travel to 40 states spreading the FFA message that agriculture leads to a promising career path. McNeel says she wants to talk about giving back.
“I really look forward going through this year and sharing with students what it means to live ‘palms up’ in our life. Everything we get is something we need to then give to others and just live with that service heart,” McNeel said, who is in the SAU Honors College.
McNeel moved to a small farm in central Arkansas when she was 10 and started showing goats.
She served as Arkansas’ FFA president a couple years ago.
She rose to the top after a rigorous round of interviews, speeches, writing assignments and tests. She was selected out of 40 officer candidates at the 88th national convention held in Louisville, Kentucky, last month.
McNeel says there are 300 different careers in agriculture, and FFA is helping groom the next generation to fill the jobs.
“Agriculture is becoming one of those careers that is really needing a lot of graduates and so it attracts a young population coming into it. When FFA is instilled at a young age, that’s when we see really cool outcomes,” McNeel said.
SAU will hold a reception for McNeel Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m. outside the Agriculture Center. In case of inclement weather the event will be moved to Grand Hall.
McNeel begins her presidency Dec. 1.
