Hello from Blacksburg! I’m back at Virginia Tech for my second semester as a Hokie and I could not be more delighted to be here! As my second week of classes approaches, I noticed something very particular about my syllabus (first) week this semester. It may have been the same last semester, but this time, it really stood out to me and made me eager to learn this go-around. What was so special, you ask? Well, all of my teachers understood education as a life-skill and not just something we’re forced to do. My communications professor quoted W.B. Yeats and said, “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.” Although I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that before, it really stuck with me. I realized that I’m here for myself to grow, not just because I want a degree. My agricultural economics teacher emphasized how he was eager to become apart of our college experience because he wanted to help us learn. He stressed that this time of our lives is important because we grow through what we learn. Hearing my professors say this definitely made me feel confident in what I do and will do down the road.

But what also affected me about my professors last week was seeing and understanding their passion. The aforementioned professors made one thing quite clear to their students- they want to be here in Blacksburg and were unbelievably thrilled to be teaching. I instantly knew that their classes would be my favorites because they love what they do, which makes their classes so much more enjoyable. Have you ever been in a setting when someone with a monotone voice is speaking to you and is just reading from a paper or a PowerPoint? And did you enjoy it? I bet 99.9% of you said no. Why? Because you felt like it didn’t matter to them, so it didn’t matter to you. Or it simply was uninteresting or irrelevant to anything you’ve ever known. I’ve said over and over that I believe there are two things that are the best gifts you can give someone- a helping hand and knowledge. But after this week and looking back on my almost 19 years, I’ll add passion to that list.

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines passion as “a strong and barely controllable emotion.” If any of you have heard me talk about cows (which I’m also positive that 99.9% of you have), you’ll know this is true. Sometimes I apologize for talking about cows so much, but as the definition above reads, I honestly can’t control it. I’m so blessed to have so much passion in my life for agriculture and dairy farming, especially at my age. Sure, growing up on 98 acres in a rural area helped that, but the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met have made me embrace that passion even more. They have shown me that agriculture is important and that I have a place in the agricultural industry. They have given me a voice, and for that I’m forever grateful.

Passion isn’t just farming and cows (even though I may make it seem that way), it’s what makes all walks of life rich. My brothers don’t love cows about 1/1,000^th as much as I do, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have passion. They have other things that excite them endlessly, that they love and that they look forward to. Our passions as humans shape who we are and where we go. I can’t say that I’d be pursuing agricultural education if I didn’t love farming as much as I do and I may have gone to another college too. Passion is just as important as anything else in life and I want to stress that.

This year, I have a new goal for myself. I’m not going to apologize for loving agriculture, because it’s who I am. Not everyone knows what their passion is and I’m grateful that I do. I’m going to go where my passion takes me, whether it’s to Japan, Africa or back to my farm at home. My passion is more of me than my appearance, my attributes and my deficits combined. My passion is everything that I want to become and it is my hope that I can become that.

Now I urge and challenge you to find your passion. Try things, go places, make friends, and experiment. Somehow, somewhere, you will find what you love most in this world. It might not be what you thought or could have ever imagined, but it will be special. It can range from loving to share your knowledge with others, like my professors I mentioned earlier, or loving to watch each NFL kickoff every Sunday afternoon. There’s no “right” passion unless it’s yours. Once you find it, embrace it. Talk about it, work for it and teach people about it. The job is only half completed if you find your passion but don’t indulge in it. Your life will become the best it can be if you let your passion take you for a ride. Let it ignite the fire inside of you.

“If you live to love, then you will love to live…If you have a big dream, then you can have big success.”