WASKOM FRESHMAN TAKES REINS AS NEW KC AG PRESIDENT

Monika Brindley Sets Aggressive Agenda for Award-Winning Club

KILGORE, TX — Monika Brindley enrolled at Kilgore College the fall semester of 2002 fully expecting to fill a leadership role in the tradition-rich Kilgore College Agriculture Club sometime before her two-year stint would be over. The Waskom freshman just didn’t realize it would happen so soon.

Brindley and her fellow ag student classmates enjoyed a typical fall semester. They attended classes and study sessions, took exams, participated in ag club activities, worked with the show animals, and competed in the Angus cattle shows in Tyler and Dallas. There was even time for an occasional date or two. Then, following an emergency ag club meeting just days before the Christmas break, Brindley emerged as the new president.

A former high school FFA parliamentary procedure officer with a history of leadership accomplishments as a take-charge person, Brindley seized the opportunity and immediately initiated efforts to continue KC’s quest for another "Club of the Year" honor in the Texas Junior College Agriculture Association (TJCAA). Kilgore College has captured the coveted award seven of the past ten years. In doing so, KC has produced the state president and state secretary during those same years. Last year, Carlisle sophomore Josh Owens was named "TJCAA Student of the Year," in addition to serving as the organization’s state president. Owens received a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship and is now excelling in Texas A&M’s Animal Science Department.

Brindley wasted no time in sounding reveille to the troops. She distributed an e-mail pep talk to the group over the Christmas holidays and called a special club meeting soon after students returned for spring semester classes to discuss proposed club by-law revisions and plan spring activities and show dates. She outlined several key areas where she felt the club should concentrate its efforts.

"We need to enhance our reputation in the TJCAA, become more assertive to let the KC campus and administration know exactly what our club does, offer more services to agricultural science teachers and bull test owners in our area, and be more responsible in our student recruitment, " Brindley explained.

Brindley pointed out that although the KC Agriculture Club has long been the most active service-oriented campus organization, the club is still overshadowed by higher profile non-academic groups. In addition, all agriculture classes and labs are taught at the college farm near Overton, the "nerve center" for ag club activities. Since their projects are performed at locations throughout East Texas, the club’s visibility on campus is mostly nil.

"Most of the campus students are not aware that Kilgore College has an agriculture club, even though we perform more community service projects and activities throughout the year than any group on campus," she said somewhat frustrated. "But since most of our activities are not done on campus, those efforts go largely unnoticed."

She hopes that some of the current ag club members do not become lulled by successes of their predecessors. "The honors this club has received over the years were earned with a lot of hard work and dedication," she affirms. "We must continue those strong work ethics to reestablish our reputation and maintain our profile as the best community college agriculture program in the state. Senior colleges want Kilgore College graduates because they know we work hard and emphasize leadership."

The new president emphasized student recruitment as an area where the club really needs to concentrate. "We must rely more on ourselves as we recruit potential students," she pointed out. "The Kilgore College agriculture program offers its students many opportunities that they would not have at a senior college until their last year or so. Here, we can become involved in an assortment of activities even the day we are enrolled. Our farm, alone, provides us with a wonderful teaching, learning and working environment. We want to recruit bright take-charge leadership-oriented students who will continue the traditions of strong academics, agricultural service and leadership at Kilgore College after our class has graduated, then pass the torch to the next group. Finally, but foremost, I want our club to begin changing the image of Kilgore College from ‘last resort’ to ‘first choice’ so that all students of this institution will be proud to be here."

Providing volunteer manpower and services to agricultural organizations and other groups has been the hallmark of the Kilgore College Agriculture Club since inception nearly 40 years ago. Although many of the projects are traditional in nature, Brindley believes the club should offer additional or specialized services that area ag science teachers find useful to their programs. "We can help them in a lot of ways where they don’t have the time, such as organizing and running a judging contest," she maintains. "The ag teachers can help us in return by referring their best students to Kilgore College. That gives us more manpower to help them better."

Even though she exudes cautious optimism about the ag club and its activities, Monica Brindley is fully confident of her abilities to lead. After all, she’s getting the chance to spread her wings and fly a whole year sooner than she ever dreamed imaginable.

Brindley encourages prospective students to download the department’s independent web site to learn virtually all they need to know about the KC agricultural program.

(Article published locally and provided by writer, Ralph Ward Jr.)