Special To McDonald County Press
COLUMBIA -- The Missouri FFA Association recognized Allie O'Brien of the McDonald County FFA Chapter as Area 11 Star Farmer at the 88th Missouri FFA Convention. O'Brien is the daughter of Jason and Mindy O'Brien of Pineville, Mo. Her advisers are Robert Hall, Emily Hutton, Eric Roller and Janae Wilson.
Area Star Farmers are chosen based upon outstanding production agriculture in the student's supervised agricultural experience program and active participation in FFA. Area 11 includes 17 chapters in the Southwest District.
MFA Inc., Columbia, sponsors the 16 area Star Farmer awards and the State Star Farmer Award.
O'Brien began her SAE program with 10 Limousin cows, six heifer calves and 11 horses. She has shown registered cattle in local livestock competitions and rides her horses in rodeos across the country. O'Brien's program has now grown to 37 cows and 11 horses.
O'Brien served as chapter second vice president, chaplain and treasurer. She has competed at the state level in the dairy cattle evaluation and horse evaluation career development events. O'Brien also won the area beef entrepreneurship proficiency award.
In addition to FFA, O'Brien is a member of the National Honor Society, Drug Free Scholars program and the A+ program at McDonald County High School.
After high school, O'Brien has plans to study pharmacology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
The Missouri FFA has 25,920 members representing 340 chapters. The national organization has more than 629,000 members representing 7,757 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
Community on 04/28/2016