Contact: Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz, 979-845-1554, j-mazurkiewicz@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION – Lawyers, farmers, bankers, ranchers and agriculture-related industry representatives banded together for two years with one aim: learn to be leaders. Their intensive study of agriculture worldwide culminated this month when their Texas Agriculture Lifetime Leadership XIII class graduated at a ceremony in College Station.
“The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service administers the program known as TALL, which focuses on local, state, national and international issues to help ensure effective understanding and encourage positive action that will advance the agriculture industry,” said Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz, program director.
This class — the 13th since the program started — traveled extensively, including a trip to Brazil to learn about the impact of agriculture worldwide.
“TALL creates leaders in agriculture by exposing participants to all segments of the industry – locally, nationally and internationally. We develop a network with other participants and those who generously host us during visits to realize opportunities where we can positively affect how we, as agriculturalists, will feed and clothe the world,” said Kelley Sullivan of Houston.
“The program has truly broadened my perspective on many production, political and social issues impacting agriculture, which will help me be a stronger leader and spokesman for this great industry,” said Lindsay Kennedy of Lubbock. “The TALL program is making a lasting impact not only in the lives of its participants, but on Texas and American agriculture as a whole.”
Graduates and their hometowns are:
Casey Cook and Wade King – Amarillo; Jesse Womack III – Austin; Kevin Proctor – Ben Wheeler; Jason Avent – Canyon; Jon Mixson – Corpus Christi; Debra Barrett – Edroy; Linda Jordens Galayda – Elkhart; Brady Miller – Groom; Heath Hill – Gruver; Kelley Sullivan – Houston; Kody Bessent, Mary Jane Buerkle, Shelley Heinrich, Lindsay Kennedy and Eric Wanjura – Lubbock; Matthew Tyler – Malakoff; Kelly Kettner and Joe Osterkamp – Muleshoe; Sally Oglesby Harris – Ozona; Chase Tyndell – Rosenberg; Brant Mettler – Sanger; and Bryan Clift – Stratford.
Also Brandon Grooms and Jeremy Seiger – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Mark Slavens – Dublin, Ohio.
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