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Student an advocate for agriculture
Published 10/17/2011 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
sahmad@gctelegram.com
Jenny Gillespie may have been born and bred in southwest Kansas, but her love for agriculture was sparked halfway around the world.
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Courtesy photo Jenny L. Gilliespie, a Copeland native, recently completed the Wichita Prairie Fire marathon on Oct. 9 as part of the Kansas Beef Council's endurance team.
In 2007, while still an undergraduate college student at Kansas State University, the Copeland native spent time volunteering in the Philippines with the H.E.L.P. Foundation, or Humanitarian Efforts to Lessen Poverty of Underprivileged Children.
There, while working at an orphanage, Gillespie said she encountered small-scale farming practices very different from the production agriculture she grew up with in and around Gray County.
The experience overseas — witnessing the roots of farming firsthand — is what led the 25-year-old to where she is today, as an "agvocate" for the beef industry, she said.
"(In the Philippines), they planted by hand and harvested by hand — I just found that fascinating," Gillespie, a 2005 South Gray High School graduate, said. "A lot of their agriculture is very different. They plant pineapples and mangos and other fruit, and plow the ground with animals."
Despite growing up with a father who worked at a local grain elevator and spending time with bucket calves in 4-H Club, Gillespie said she never saw agriculture in her future.
"It just never occurred to me that it would be an interesting field, but now I've absolutely fallen in love with it," she said.
That's why in the middle of her college studies, the former pre-medicine major changed her course of study to agribusiness, sought and completed an internship at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., after college, and is now studying agricultural communication at Oklahoma State University.
As part of her graduate work, the southwest Kansas native is researching how beef producers use social media and how credible they believe the information they find through Internet-based networking tools to be.
It's a topic she delved into, she said, due to her love for social media and online communication.
It's also a project she convinced Certified Angus Beef, LLC, the national promoters of the meat brand, to participate in, too.
"I wondered if they would be interested in being a part of this study, so approached them, and they jumped on board," Gillespie, who currently works as a communications intern for Angus, said.
Because she's still got a couple of weeks of data collection left before she defends her thesis in November, Gillespie said she can't yet disclose what the results will look like. However, the graduate student did say their are many challenges facing her beloved beef industry, misconceptions and other issues she works to correct.
"On the producers' side, there's the treatment of animals, and on the consumers' side, there's many health misconceptions," the graduate student said. "Those misunderstandings happen because so many people are removed from the agricultural industry now, though they might have had (ties) some generations back."
As part of the effort to promote beef, the Oklahoma State student who self-admittedly "bleeds purple," completed her first marathon as part of the Kansas Beef Council's Endurance Team, an opportunity she learned about online.
Gillespie, along with thousands of other runners, took part in the second annual Wichita Prairie Fire Marathon on Oct. 9, a 26.2 mile course, one of the "biggest challenges of her life," she said.
"I've been blessed in my 25 years to do lots of things, with several challenges along the way," she said. "This was by far the biggest one I've ever overcome. ... At mile 18, I remember feeling ready to give up, and it was tough, but my family was there every step of the way. Those last eight or 10 miles, they kept me going. If it weren't for them, I'd still be out there on the course in the rain."
During her endurance training and blogging online — and sporting a KBC jersey on race day — Gillespie said she's taken the opportunity to educate others every step of the way.
"All of the conversations for me (on race day) were very lighthearted. When I would run by someone, people would always cheer, 'Team Beef!' . . . A couple of people at the starting line, including one guy, said he was involved in the packing industry and knew southwest Kansas," she said. "Most people want to know how you're involved and what you're doing. We live in a really supportive agricultural state."
Follow Jenny Gillespie on Twitter @ j_gillespie or read her blog at http://purplepoke.blogspot.com.
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