Scholarship Essay Entry – Melissa H.

"Beep... Beep... Beep," early Saturday morning, it was time to roll my dreary body out of bed, grab a piece of toast and put on those mud filled coveralls and go for the day. While other kids were enjoying their day off with early morning cartoons, I was riding the tractor with my old man, chasing cows, fixing and repairing things that have been stacked up through the week. That was the life to me, because that was all I knew, and that was what I was good at. There was no surprise when I told people I wanted to pursue farming when I grew up.

Now successfully completed my first year of the Livestock Production Diploma course at Lakeland College, that dream is coming true for me. Many comments are made by individuals like "Why are you going for farming," or "What is the point of going to school to be a farmer, when you have lived on a farm all your life." That is an obstacle put in front of me, but that is just one of the beginning obstacles for the rest of my life. Everyone has to do what they are passionate about, and my passion is agriculture. I want there to be reconstruction, I want farmers and producers to be noticed for the hard work being done, I want, I want, I want...

Change, a powerful word that can mean many things, but change needs to happen. Over the years the agriculture industry has been criticized and has not been recognized like it should. When it comes down to it, we are the primary industry that feeds everyone. Groups and people in large centers see one sided media about the agriculture industry and they believe it. They see one person abusing their animals and then it makes us all bad and we all do it. In reality that is not true and farmers have to fight. Fight for our rights and our industry. If eyes are opened and see the real story then times may turn a bit easier.

Farming will be hard in the future for young individuals to pursue but once everyone sees and change has occurred and things shape up for the good, the world might be a better place for us all to live. It will be easier to provide primary products to other individuals who live in civilization today. My dreams for the future may only be small but with those small goals, change for the better can occur.