Tarleton State University

Agricultural Services and Development

~2016~

Table of Contents

Greetings from the Department of Agricultural and

Consumer Sciences!
For the first time in many years, our department is now home to over 800 students majoring
in either a Bachelors in Agricultural Services and Development, a Bachelors in Agricultural
Business, and/or a Masters in Agricultural and Consumer Resources. We proudly embrace this
responsibility for providing Agricultural Educators, Agricultural Communicators, professionals
in Agricultural Industries and Agencies, Horticulturists, Agricultural Business Managers, and
Agricultural Economists to their respective professional disciplines. With this increase in students, we will be adding faculty. Ms. Chandra Andrew will be earning her doctorate soon and
joining the Agricultural Communication team. We are also searching for a new Contest and
Service Coordinator to join the department in the fall 2016 semester. Moreover, please notice
the new building rising from the soil at the Tarleton Agriculture Center. That building will be
the future home of the Agricultural Mechanics Program. We are in a renaissance time of growth
and transformation.
Even in the midst of these changes, our core values remain. We continue to be the face of
Tarleton agriculture. Our faculty and students are the faces of educating the public about agriculture, extending agricultural knowledge and skills into the counties and municipalities across
Texas and the world, and telling the story of agriculture to a public that may not realize the importance of the industries that provide their food, fiber, forage, fuel, and family needs.
Finally, Im most proud of belonging to a department that sincerely seeks to make a
positive difference in the lives of those we serve. We provide this service through one of the
great Colleges of Agriculture in the world the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Tarleton State University.

Produced Spring 2016 by:

Jessica Barrow
Sydney Bustamante
Jacy Cabler
Shelbie Darr
Breanna Farley
Jarrod Gaddis
Bayli Gregory
Sterling Jameson
Maddi Jaureguito

McKenzi Jordan
Tyson Kalinec
Jacob Nation
Morghan Nicholes
Jessica Parton
Brittany Phillips
Jess Riley
Claire Smart
Madison Stout
Abigayle Terry

Rudy Tarpley

A Family Affair
Story by Jacy Cabler

Tarleton State University is known and loved for its small-town, family-oriented persona. Once you

Johnston recalls many memories from her six years spent in Stephenville. She was very active in

receive your acceptance letter, you are officially a part of a new, much larger family than your own. You will

college ministries which gave her endless opportunities. Through ministries, I was able to play almost

forever be a part of the purple and white alma mater.

every intramural sport, go on mission trips, and get to know students from every sector of campus,

Johnston said. Johnston set aside time to tutor the athletic teams which helped create a strong bond

TraeAnn (Schlemmer) Johnston knew this from the moment she stepped foot on Tarletons beautiful

campus. Johnston grew up in Riesel, Texas on a beef cattle ranch with her parents and two older brothers.

between her and Tarletons student athletes. She attended many on campus sporting events to support

Her father, John, is a rancher while her mother, Tammy, recently retired from teaching elementary school.

those she grew close to. One of Johnstons favorite times of the school year was Homecoming week, a

Johnston knew that she wanted to remain in a very close relationship with her family, and ultimately form a

weeklong celebration that boosts Tarleton spirit around campus. Since moving away from Stephenville,

new one at TSU.

Johnstons makes an effort to return each year to participate in the Homecoming bonfire, run the 5k, and

remanence with old friends during the football game.

When asked what prompted her to attend Tarleton, Johnston says she owes much of her decision to

her high school FFA program. In high school I was heavily involved in Riesels FFA program, so I competed

Johnston married in July of 2015 and is currently residing in Dallas, Texas working as a full time

at Tarleton several times, becoming familiar with the university through that experience, says Johnston.

accountant for Savoya, an executive downtown travel company. Johnston has also been employed as an

Coming from a rural town with a population of less than 1,000 people, Johnston also felt comfortable

Adjunct Instructor for online classes at Tarleton State University since January 2014. Greg, Johnstons

knowing she would be receiving a great education within a smaller campus community. To strengthen

husband, is finishing up his degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, with hopes of landing a job as a

her connections around Tarleton, Johnstons father is a TSU alumnus, along with a cousin of hers who was

youth pastor around the Dallas area. Johnston hopes to one day work for an agriculture company such

attending college at TSU at the time. She feels that choosing Tarleton State University was a family thing.

as Farm Bureau or an ag credit agency. They plan to have several children within the next 10-15 years.
Johnston loves her agricultural background, from growing up on a ranch to graduating Tarleton State
University with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics in December of 2011 and a Master of
Science in Agriculture (with an emphasis in Agricultural Economics) in December of 2013, and feels
that is has added an extra edge to her when shes up against competition.

Its fun to talk with my coworkers who have no farming or ranching background about current

agricultural topics, says Johnston. Tarleton State University became her new home and family while she
was attending college and thats a great family affair.

Severe Weather Tears Through Tarleton

Agriculture Center

Farmers Fight
Story by Brittany Phillips

Story by Madison Stout, picture by Breanna Farley

With no warning the Tarleton Agriculture Center suffered damage after severe weather swept through
March 8, 2016. The weather brought with it an EF-1 tornado that struck Stephenville around dawn causing winds
between 86 and 110 mph to dismantle buildings at the farm.

Structural damage occurred mainly to five buildings including the Sheep and Goat Barn, the North Poultry Building, the Commodity Barn, the shop for the Farm Maintenance Building, and the Feedlot. The Sheep and
Goat Barn, in direct path of the tornado, received the most damage with the barn completely coming apart from
its slab. Most of the other buildings had roof damage or twisted beams. The swine building received the least
amount damage along with the new Agricultural Mechanics building that is under construction. It is a possibility that most if not all of the five buildings will be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up due to the amount
of destruction from the tornado. Fortunately, none of the livestock or students were injured or harmed from the
weather.

Nothing we cant put back together, Farm Manager Allan Morgan said. And weve been able to manage
around it.

No classes or activities were cancelled due to the storm damage at the farm. But, they had to do some rearranging to make sure no classes were missed, and that all the animals were safely housed somewhere. Because of
other construction projects that were going on at the college farm during the time of the tornado, equipment and
man-power was already available for clean-up. Tarleton hired out SSC Construction to help gather and secure the
large debris from the buildings.

By the end of the day [March 8] we had most of the dangerous stuff picked up, Morgan said. The SSC
Construction guys have done a good job as far as trying to get on things quickly as far as getting roofs repaired.
A reconstruction plan is in the works for the farm buildings. In order to begin reconstruction structural engineers have surveyed the damage and after Tarleton determines the funds, budget and contractors for the job
rebuilding will begin. As of right now there is no estimated completion dates in the book.

You can look at it as a catastrophic event that interrupted normal business, Morgan said. Or you can
look at it as an opportunity.

The goal is to clean up the farm structurally and cosmetically and right now they are working diligently to
make sure the college farm is a great asset for hands on learning for students.
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Farmers Fight is one of the newest organizations out of the agriculture department this year.
After struggling with funding and paperwork for over a year, the organization finally got their charter spring of 2016. Farmers Fight is an agricultural advocacy group focusing on reaching out to the
campus and community about agricultural related topics and how it effects them, said Keely Cobbler the executive director of Farmers Fight.

Right now the organization has about 30-40 members including the executive team. At their
meetings members are encouraged to bring topics they would like to discuss and learn more about.

In the fall Farmers Fight will bring an advocate conference to Tarleton where members will
talk about current topics in agriculture, learn about new topics in agriculture, and go over tips on
how to interact with people in person and social media while advocating for agriculture. Cobbler
also stated they hope to team up with ag extension and Farm Bureau for community out reach,
campus outreach and education days.

Farmers Fight began at Texas A&M University in College Station. The Texas A&M chapter
reached out to Tarleton and encouraged students to bring Farmers Fight to Tarleton. Cobbler said
farmers fight is a different and more modern approach, to advocating for agriculture. Cobbler and
other students went to A&M for training about Farmers Fight and how to start the organization here
at Tarleton.

In the next year, Cobbler hopes the students will be able to go out and help educate the community about agriculture and how it affects them every day. She also stated she wants to help engage people on social media and host positive, intelligent, discussions about agriculture. Cobbler
hopes by reaching out through social media they can help educate and bust some myths, about
agriculture.

Farmers fight would like the campus to know anyone can be a part of the organization as long
as they are a student at Tarleton. Meetings are open to anyone with questions about topics or buzzwords like GMOs, Cobbler said. They encourage students to come with questions and they will do
the research that needs to be done and help shed some light on the topic from and unbiased and
scientific side of the topic.


A Home in Horticulture
story by Sidney Bustamante, photo from Dexter Prater

44th Annual Career Development Events

Story by Jessica Parton

Over 8,700 high school FFA members, from 420 schools, participated in Tarleton State Universitys
Invitational Career Development Events (CDES). The 44th annual event on April 7, offered students the chance to compete amongst the 17 contests, ranging from Wildlife to Wool judging.
Between these events, five set all-time records in participation; these being Vet Science, Entomology, Environment and Natural Resources, Wool and Home Site Evaluation. Following the trend from
last years contest, Vet Science, Horse and Livestock judging continue to be the largest three events
of the day.
Though the event takes months to plan, it would not operate as well without the help of the College
of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences faculty and students.
Our faculty and ag students help set-up, conduct and manage the different events, said agriculture
professor Dr. Ted Ford.

These Invitational CDEs allow teachers to bring all of their teams to one place for a day of practice.
The central location makes the contests reasonably accessible for hundreds of schools from across
the state. Though the primary goal of the event is allowing students to showcase their skills, many of
these students become Tarleton students after competing on the Tarleton campus. The $1,000 scholarships given to the high point teacher in each event, to grant one of their graduating seniors, makes
it possible to continue recruiting future Tarleton agriculture students.
In addition to the campus facilities required for contest day, the community of Stephenville is also
very generous in volunteering their space to accommodate students. The City Park, National Guard
Amory and Lone Star Arena are some of the locations that host a contest.
I think these are large events because of our obvious efforts to provide quality events, Ford explained.
As the invitational continues to gain participants, the Tarleton College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences will continue to coordinate a wholesome day of competition with the ultimate goal
being the betterment of future agriculture professionals.

For many students, Tarleton is home. The department of agricultural and consumer
sciences is home to students concentrating in agricultural education, extension and
industries, agricultural communication and horticulture/landscape management.
Dexter Prater, a junior in the department has proven to be an outstanding student
in the department. Prater is currently concentrating in horticulture and landscape
management and serves as the president of the Horticulture Club at Tarleton.
While growing up in Bryan, TX, Prater was continuously involved in outdoor
agriculture activities. Prater stated, Growing up I always assumed I would go into
agriculture like many of those in my family; however, I found that most of the things I
enjoyed about farming, such as being outdoors and cultivating plants, were also present
and even enhanced in horticulture. Prater comes from a farming background, his
father owns John Deer stores, while his grandfather and uncle are fulltime farmers.
Due to his background, Prater was able to recognize the importance of agriculture, and pinpoint what about it was
special to him. Prater stated, As I was looking into career choices, I realized horticulture was very similar to farming,
but was different in one primary way. Horticulture provided more opportunities to bring plant cultivation to a larger
percentage of the population. With farming, the plants are usually grown miles from where most of the consumers are,
but with horticulture you are bringing the beautiful plants near the homes and businesses of so many people. He believes
connecting the growth of plants to the mass population is what makes horticulture special.

Although the horticulture section of our department is not the largest, it is gaining in popularity. It is no surprise
that the program is growing, with the amount of positive feedback from Prater, Being a part of the horticulture program
at Tarleton has been such a blessing. It is a fairly small program, so I feel as though I get a lot of personal attention that
may not be available in other departments or at other schools. Participation isnt very difficult to come across. Prater is
president of the Horticulture Club, which is currently working on local beautification projects. We are currently working
on a project to assist the City of Stephenville with redesigning several of the median beds around town. Assisting in the
beautification of the community that graciously hosts all of us college students is a very rewarding project.

Prater has taken the initiative to keep the club going, and has done an outstanding job. Before taking on the role
of president, Prater joined looking for knowledge, skill and friendship. Now that he has taken on such a role, Prater now
has a passion to grow the club and allow more people to learn from the activities that we do, whether its experimenting
with hydroponics or getting job-like experience through designing landscapes for businesses and individuals in the
community. When asked if there was anything Prater could teach the community, he said it would be that landscape and
maintenance is art as well as science. There are so many varieties of plants to choose from and ways to design them to
create each individuals idea of the perfect landscape. Landscape designers are the holders of the information that can help
you make your dream landscape come to fruition, Prater stated.

Dexter Prater, recognized the importance of agriculture, in all aspects of life; both urban and rural. With that, he
has found his calling within horticulture and landscape managements and has also found his place at Tarleton state as the

Horticulture Club president. Prater plans on finding his place in the horticulture industry before pursing any sort
of masters degree.

It Could Have Been Worse:

The Cheyenne Holt Story

Story by Jessica Barrow, Photos from Cheyenne Holt

It could be worse. And thats just what I hold with me; that no matter how bad it is, theres somebody
else out there thats got it worse than you do and everything happens for a reason.
At a first glance Cheyenne Holt, a freshman at Tarleton State University, seems like your typical college
student. She attends classes, is a cheerleader for the universitys all-girl squad, and is an active member of
her sorority. I never intended to go to Tarletonnow I wouldnt change being at Tarleton for anything,
Holt said. Spring semester of her senior year of high school changed everything.
Early into softball season, Holt was playing with her team in a tournament. While diving back to second
base, Holts face impacted with the basemans leg. The force of the impact snapped her neck back leaving
her with a severe whiplash, muscle spasms and strains. Thinking back to that day, Holt recalls how everything began, No serious damage (to the neck), but there was a nodule on my thyroid.

The last year has defiantly not been easy. Holt recalls becoming depressed early on and drawing more
and more away from people and the outside would. This all happened right before prom, before graduation and basically all that got ripped away from me. I couldnt be around people. I was constantly in
the hospital, so I couldnt even go to school any more. I guess it was really devastating for me; to feel
like I had everything and now I have nothing besides this illness.
Even though Holt hit this emotional low, she has decided to make the best of the situation thanks to the
lessons learned from her time spent at the Ronald McDonald House in Houston. Every Tuesday and
Thursday the House would hot little activities geared more to the younger children staying there. All
of these little kids would be running around, screaming, happier than they had ever been before. And I
guess that really touched me. To see all they are going through all of this and they might not even live to
be a teenager, but they are so happy. Thats one of my favorite memories because even though there was
so much sadness, it was surrounded by more happiness than Ive ever seen in my life, said Holt.
In a situation that too many seems dire, Holt is adamantly that her softball accident saved her life.
They told me that if they hadnt found it (the tumor) in the accident, I wouldnt have lived to see my
21st birthday, Holt recalls. The tumor had been attached to the backside of Holts thyroid. Typically a
tumor can be detected by palpation, the placement of her tumor made it impossible to detect through
palpation.
In light of her luck, Holts says, Now instead of, why did this happen to me?, Thank God it happened
to me! and honestly its changed me to be a stronger and better person.

By March 20th Holt and her family were receiving her official diagnosis at Texas Childrens Hospital in
Houston; Papillary thyroid cancer. Hopeful that the cancer hadnt spread, she went into surgery April
3rd. After a six hour surgery, Holts tumor, complete thyroid and lymphoid sample had been extracted.
A week later, the lymph sample came back from testing. The cancer had spread to her lymphoid; she had
reach Metastatic status.
One round of radioactive iodine therapy and almost a year under belt, you can find Holt not just living
but thriving. Looking back at the events of the past year she reminds herself, Are you going to live out
our life saying, Why me? What if? and being sad, or are you going to live the rest of your life being happy and enjoying what you have, because you never know what tomorrow brings.

Because of everything she has experienced, Holt has a passion to raise awareness for pediatric cancer
and has plans to do just that in the years to come. Holts passion on the subject was evident as she said,
There is so much that people dont know about it (pediatric care), just because we arent effected by it.
Holts has plans to continue visiting others in Texas Childrens and soon hopes her emotional support
dog, Marilyn, will join her upon receiving training. She hopes that Marilyn can provide others with the
love and support she has received.
Most of all Holt hopes that her story can be an inspiration
to others in similar situations. From being diagnosed, to
having seen her parents break down because of the condition, to fall into depression, holds has been through more
than most people go through in a lifetime. She doesnt let
that stop her. She goes to school, is a college cheerleader,
and is actively in a sorority. She doesnt just live she thrives.
When I do get down, I think back to all those kids that
Ive met; the younger ones; thats what keeps me goingI
see these little kids and I think, that could have been me.
I could have been sick my entire life. Sick is all these kids
know.
It could have been worse.

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From Friona to FFA

Story by Abigayle Terry, Photos from Laura Proctor

2016 Agriculture Services and Development Updates

*Agricultural Communication:

Dr. David Frazier was born in Friona, Texas amongst humble

beginnings. Frazier spent his first 18 years across the Texas
border in New Mexico. Joining the National FFA Organization
would become the most pivotal moment in Fraziers life.
Frazier grew up dirt poor without a father and a mother who
worked as a janitor. Being poor can have a lot of effects on a
person, especially a boy growing up without a father. Frazier
was able to find that father figure he had always needed
through his high school ag teacher.
After joining FFA he says, All of the sudden I got to be
somebody, and it was just the best thing that ever happened
to me and so since my freshman year [of high school] I
always knew this is what I wanted to do. I want to help other people, you know as I go throughout
this experience. FFA helped Frazier become the person he had always wanted to be, I used to tell
everybody I felt like a nobody. And a lot of people treated you that way, but when you put on that blue
and gold jacket, all of the sudden you become somebody.

Once joining FFA, Frazier was very active in his local and state chapters. He served as New Mexico
State FFA First Vice President, and went onto college for a year before realizing he was not done with
the organization, and returned to serve as New Mexico State FFA President. As State President Frazier
spent all but 14 nights on the road visiting different chapters. After his year as State President Frazier
went on to Texas Tech University where he earned an agricultural education degree. Fraziers first
teaching job was in Snyder Texas while he was studying for his masters.
In the 15 years Frazier was in Snyder the program grew from 67 students to over 250. Frazier then
went on to Mizzou where he earned his PhD. After earning his PhD Frazier went on to what he calls
the Tarleton of Tennessee Tennessee Tech University, where he taught for three years before an
opening came up at Tarleton.
National officer candidates began coming to Frazier for his guidance in the selection process, it started
off two or three candidates and snowballed from there. Frazier has worked with officer candidates
from almost every state in the nation. Above his desk on his wall is a map of the United States which is
scattered with red and black push pins which indicate the students he has worked with over the years.

*Agriculture Media Summit: July 23rd-27th

St. Louis, MI
* Agriculture Education:

* State Degree Check

June 8th-10th

*Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association of Texas:
July 25th-29th
Corpus Christi, Tx
* College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences:
*National FFA Contest

May 12th
* Collegiate FFA:

*Texas 4-H Round-up: June TBA

*Texas Agriculture Agencies Conference: July TBA

Waco, Tx


*88th Texas State FFA Convention: July 11th-15th

Dallas, Tx

*Tarleton State University Homecoming Week: October 16th-22nd

Stephenville, Tx

I couldnt imagine going anywhere else. I want to train ag teachers, I want to train the best ag teachers
in the State. I want to open their eyes to what they do for students, and at Tarleton thats what we do.
We show them what a true ag teacher is about.

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