OFI 1141: Adversity Leads To Success And Service | FFA SAE Edition | Reace Lannen | Shields Valley High School FFA

Our guest today just graduated high school, and she has accomplished a lot. She lives and works on her families cattle ranch in Montana which gives her a lot of responsibilities. She is already certified to artificially inseminate cattle, and she helps her parents get their females bred every year. She also runs a “heifer improvement program” for the family which takes up a lot of her time. In addition to all of this, she has been involved in the FFA for four years, serving as historian, secretary and finally, chapter president.

What is amazing about Reace Lannen’s story is that right in the middle of her journey through the FFA she developed an unknown problem that kept her from walking, let alone working on the ranch and participating in the FFA. After a trip to the Seattle Children’s Hospital she found out what the problem was – juvenile arthritis.

After a diagnosis was reached, a treatment was prescribed – a shot of chemo therapy to be given to her once she got back to Montana. However, the shot caused her to have a severe, anaphylactic allergic reaction, so that was no longer an option. Then, through the FFA, she met an advisor at an FFA event, whose wife had rheumatoid arthritis. Information was shared, and Reace found a medication that continues to work very well for her to this day.

Once Reace did not have to focus so much on treating her arthritis so much, and she returned to what life was like prior to her first inflammation, she started reflecting on what she had gone through. One of the worst parts of the ordeal was the six months in which she could not live her normal life. She was unable to help out on the ranch or be around the livestock that she loves so much.

This reflection inspired an idea. So today, Reace has purchased to miniature horses and a small, Corriente calf that she is training to be therapy animals. Reace is actually in the process of becoming certified to do this right now. She now has a mission of helping people who feel disconnected from the farm life and livestock that they love because of a medical connection, to be able to be around livestock again. She knows just what it is like to smell a horse or a cow after you haven’t been able to for a long time. For somebody who loves livestock she believes there is healing in that, and she wants to help other people heal.

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Livestock Production

HIGH SCHOOL: Shields Valley High School Clyde Park, Montana

MASCOT: Rebels

FFA ADVISOR: JR Pierce

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR REACE LANNEN:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Shields Valley High School Website:

Reaces’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: jrpierce@shieldsvalleyschools.org

Lincolnwood High School Telephone Number: 406-578-2535

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA

Donate to FFA – FFA students can start small businesses through an FFA grant of $1,000. In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants. With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.

REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:

Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% and the rest of the world. FFA provides the needed education, training, and resources to Americans to carry that torch forward and ensure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation. The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
Farmers, ranchers, and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the food search is as simple as going to the grocery store:

“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue