2020 Spring Farm Outlook

Page 36 2020 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 19, 2020 dairy judging, meats judging, soil judging, agronomy contests, and speaking contests. She always expected nothing but the best from me. Today I could not thank her enough as she has made me so self-motivated.” Irwin too was influenced by other females in FFA and made the most of every opportunity while a student at LCHS. “I was in Ag classes and FFA in high school,” said Irwin. “Dr. Penny Haase Wittler was my Ag teacher all four years and I would say she definitely inspired me. She would take us all the time to conferences and career fairs. Seeing all the women involved in different companies and different aspects of Ag inspired me too. I feel like if I hadn’t been in FFA, and been to those career fairs, I wouldn’t have chose going into Ag. Once I was involved in 4-H and FFA, I was like, oh, yeah, there is so much you can do.” Irwin commented that Jason Steffens was her 4-H leader. “Almost everyone I was in FFA with ended up going into Ag in college,” continued Irwin. “I feel like she (Dr. Wittler) really helped us figure out what we wanted to do and showed us all the opportunities that were out there for us. “Women have only been in FFA since 1969. When I was in it, it was kind of surprising how it was half men and half women. It’s kind of crazy how in just such a short amount of time how many girls are involved now. I wouldn’t even be surprised if there were more girls now. It’s awesome,” Irwin said. Dr. Wittler is now teaching Agriculture classes at the college level. Coers shared a fun fact, “Something that I think is really cool is that my mom (Mila Dittus) was the first female state degree holder (a high honor award) at Mount Pulaski High School. She was huge in FFA. She’s not involved in Ag now but it makes me really proud to know... and that’s like a cool thing that she did.” Coers grandma, Janice Dittus, is still very proud to be on the farm. These three young women are not just making mentors and family members proud, but they are also paving the way for future generations. Up-and-coming females in Ag will follow in the big foot print they are creating someday. Now that’s something they can be proud of.