As my senior year starts to become a reality, I sit back and reflect on my career of showing livestock and being a Georgia Junior Cattlemen’s Association member. GJCA has been a significant part of my life since I joined at age 9. As a new showman, GJCA helped me make new friends, many many of whom are my best friends to this day. Events such as Field Day and Convention taught me a lot about the beef industry and showing cattle. Throughout my early teens, GJCA continued to help me make friends and learn even more about the awesome industry we as junior cattlemen as a part of. Stockman's quizes, team marketing and Beef Ambassador are just a few of the events that prepared me in becoming a cattle owner and marketer myself. Any high school senior can tell you the question they have been asked the most over the past few months is, "So, where are you going to college

Growing Up with GJCA

Showing cattle is a great way for a young person to get involved in the beef industry. However, it also teaches many important life lessons and most importantly it shows participants that good things in life don’t come without hard work. Although this is only my second year showing cattle I have been taught so many lessons. It takes a lot of responsibility for the early mornings and late nights while keeping up with school and sports. My parents aren't involved in agriculture for the most part, but they all pitched in and are getting involved in what I love doing. Family is definitely a big part of showing and it brings you closer together. Whether it’s sharing the joys of a win or picking each other up after a failure you know they will be there for you. When I started showing I didn’t know much

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1 Growing Up with GJCA

2 GJCA Quarterly Roundup

3 Beef Futurity winners

5 Sponsor Recognition

6 Tackling College

Applications

Official

Newsletter of

Georgia Junior

Cattlemen’s

Association

Fall 2012

Volume 1 Issue 2

By Callie Akins, GJCA chairwoman

Reflections from the Ring By Walt Lipham, GJCA chapter relations officer

Please see Growing Up on page 2

Please see Reflections on page 4

Georg ia Junior Catt lemen’s Assoc iat ion, 100 Catt lemen’s Dr ive, Macon, GA. 31221 www.gabeef.org/gjca 478-474-6560

Lipham poses with his show animal.

Visit us on Facebook!

facebook.com/gajuniorcattlemens

Busy! That’s a one-word description of the Georgia Junior Cattlemen’s Association activities over the past few months! As the summer began and the show season got started the 2011 to 2012 GJCA officers wrapped up their year and we, the current GJCA officers, got ours underway and it has been non-stop since. The past officers concluded their term at the annual GJCA Field Day and put together an amazing day themed after the Summer Olympics. Members got to participate in many different activities: An agility course, water games, hula-hooping contest, a hay bale toss and more. Older members got to listen to representatives from the University of Georgia and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College talk about the different agriculture degrees and careers offered. They also heard from Rebekah Bowen, an ABAC, UGA and University of Tennessee graduate on social media ag-vocacy. Following Field Day, juniors from across the state traveled down to Jekyll Island off the Georgia coast for the annual Georgia Cattlemen’s Summer Conference. At Summer Conference the juniors had a preplanned schedule of our own. From pizza partying it up on the beach to eating watermelon, from seeing native wildlife and swimming in the ocean we had a BLAST! After an interesting trip home with my fellow officer Walt Lipham and my agriculture instructor, GCA president Chuck Joiner, we began preparing for the Georgia Young Farmers show in Perry, Ga. At the show the officers offered popsicles to anyone looking for a way to beat the heat!

and what do you plan on majoring in?" For me, the first is still undetermined, but being a GJCA officer helped me to decide the answer to the second one. Upon graduation next spring, I plan to attend college and major in agricultural communications. Being an officer caused me to want to pursue this career field and also prepared me for it. The numerous article deadlines, helping with different GJCA events and speaking to groups of juniors helped me to realize I want to make a career of communicating the greatness of agriculture to not only the people involved in ag, but to those that do not even know where their food comes from. Even though I do not have all the answers to the questions in my future, GJCA helped me to prepare for whatever comes along. As my show career comes to an end, my career as GJCA member doesn't, but I also remember that GJCA made the last eight years the most amazing years of my life!

Scenes from PERRY

2012: Cattlemen’s

Olympics Field Day

Growing Up from page 1

GJCA Quarterly Roundup By Ben Hicks, GJCA chapter relations officer

Please see Roundup on page 6

Juniors enjoy Summer

Conference in Jekyll

Island, Ga.

I always wanted to be a veterinarian since I was a little girl, but thanks to my activities in showing cattle projects, this goal has been reinforced. Camilla, Ga., has been lucky enough to add a new vet clinic with a large animal vet to the community. I am really excited about the clinic and decided to use this as a great learning opportunity. This summer, I shadowed Dr. Gram, one of the large animal vets who alternates working at the clinic, which is an extension of the clinic out of Cario, Ga. I learned a lot about why showman are required to have health papers and what the vet is looking for while checking health papers. We also talked about what got him interested in becoming a large animal vet, and Dr. Gram shared with me that he grew up on a farm and knew that he wanted to stay in agriculture. He too showed livestock, both cows and hogs, which really showed me that the hard work and time we put into our projects truly does affect the paths we take. If you are involved with something for

about the beef industry except that steak was good, and it wasn’t often that I stopped to think about where it actually came from. Getting involved was the best thing that ever happened in my life! Although it’s a lot of work showing cattle the reward is far greater than the time and effort that goes into being successful. I was shocked when so many people went out of their way to try and teach me something or help in any way they could. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the

Cattlemen’s president, Chuck Joiner, for an ag teacher. He has taught me so much and he never hesitates to share his knowledge. That’s why the beef industry and the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association are so important. Everyone wants to teach others what they know and maybe in doing that they can gain support and with support comes success. The Junior Cattlemen’s Association is great way for kids to get more involved and have a good time while doing so. When I’m at a show I see the future leaders of the beef industry and the future looks pretty good to me!

Learning the Ropes By Merritt Daniels, GJCA Field Day Coordinator

Reflections from page 1

“Although it’s a lot of work

showing cattle, the reward is far

greater than the time and effort

that goes into being successful.”

-- Walt Lipham

a long time and put a lot of effort into it, it’s hard not to let it influence you. I can definitely vouch for the fact that showing cows positively steered me into the direction of continuing into a career in agriculture, especially in large animal veterinary sciences.

GJCA Officers Speak at Region Roundups GJCA Officers Speak at Region Roundups

Coming to a Show Near You!

GJCA will be at Wiregrass (Nicholls, Ga.) in

December and Winter Classic (Carrollton, Ga.) in

January with boiled peanuts and hot chocolate!

GJCA officers gave

out free popsicles

at the Young

Farmers show in

Perry on Aug. 10

Field Day sponsors

Summer Conference sponsor Interested in sponsoring a

GJCA event? Contact Dallas Duncan at

dallas@gabeef.org for details and opportunities!

Help support GJCA by purchasing a pair of these custom sunglasses holders!

Only $5 a pair, they make great prizes for meetings or stocking stuffers if you want to

get holiday shopping done early!

To order, call Dallas Duncan at 478-474-6560.

GJCA wishes the best of luck to our Georgia Beef Ambassadors

Junior Beef Ambassador Makayla Holmes and

Senior Beef Ambassador Gibson Priest travel to California this September to compete in the national contest. Look for coverage in the

November Georgia Cattleman magazine and winter 2012 newsletter!

In the last two months GJCA officers have been busy traveling to the GCA Region Roundups around the state giving members the junior update and trying to promote our organization throughout all chapters in the state. If you have not gotten involved yet, you need to do so. Otherwise you will never get to experience the lessons, opportunities and ample amounts of fun that GJCA has to offer!

Going to college is a big decision, and there’s a lot of little questions and details to think about. Should I apply early action or wait until regular admission? How many times do I need to take the SATs? Then there’s the application itself. It’s daunting, but GJCA compiled a list of tips and tricks to help you tackle the task!

Before starting the application, find any tax forms and other documents your parents have. These are most likely necessary for financial aid and residency requirements.

Check your transcript for errors before your school sends it to colleges!

Ask your references well in advance if they will write letters of recommendation for

Georgia Junior Cattlemen’s Association 100 Cattlemen’s Drive PO Box 27990 Macon, GA 31221

Phone: 478-474-6560

Fax: 478-474-5732

E-mail: dallas@gabeef.org

you, and provide them with a short summary of your awards, honors and achievements.

Not all applications require essays, but for the ones that do, write them in a word processing program before putting them in the application. This will make proofreading easier!

Keep these resources handy for applying: Social Security number, high school code, a copy of your transcript and score reports from the SATs and ACTs

Mark application deadlines on your calendar and set phone alerts to remind you! This may seem like common sense, but many a deadline has been missed because people forgot about them.

Carefully check early action requirements. Some colleges allow you to wait and choose if you accept admission while others require an immediate acceptance or declination.

And the biggest tip of all, don’t let applying for college scare you! Whether it’s a trade school, community college or out-of-state arts university, there are plenty of teachers, counselors and family members who can help you reach your goals.

Tackling College Applications By Dallas Duncan, GJCA adviser

Roundup from page 2

Nominate an outstanding junior for the NEW Junior of the Year Award! Nominations due

Nov. 1. Download a nomination form at

www.gabeef.org/gjca. The winner receives a 2-page spread in the May magazine, a commemorative plaque, a custom

belt buckle and will be recognized at the Cattlemen’s Ball in April.