OFI 1271: A Future Surgeon Inspired By Hearing Stories About Her Own Survival | FFA SAE Edition | Cassie Carter | Habersham Central High School FFA

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The biggest question I have about writing this post is, “where to begin?”, so I’ll just start at the start. I met Cassie Carter at the 2021 National FFA Convention. I was in a room interviewing National Proficiency Winners, and she had just won a national proficiency award in the category of Agricultural Services. Cassie had been working in her families taxidermy business, Trophy Taker Taxidermy, since she was about six years old, and this seemed like a perfect fit for her SAE. Well, that turned out to be correct as she had just come off stage with a very prestigious award.

My wife, Autumm, was helping me that day and she was speaking with Cassie while they waited for me to be ready. I then did a brief interview with Cassie and asked her if she would like to schedule a time to do a full interview on the show. She said yes, we shook hands and she walked away. Then Autumm told me that Cassie had been telling her all about going to college at Emory in Georgia and that she was a pre-med student and how challenging it already was.

Today was the day for Cassie and I to complete the full interview, and I dug a little deeper into her story and why she wants to be a doctor. She told me that she has actually decided to pursue being a trauma surgeon in Downtown Atlanta, and she is hoping to really make a difference this way.

When I asked Cassie how she first realized that she wanted to be a doctor she told me about her own story. She had been born with a hole in her heart that required open heart surgery when she was three months of age. Her odds of survival were very low, but the doctors and surgeons had done an excellent job, and here she was today as a National Proficiency Winner and studying to pay this back by being a doctor herself. Obviously, Cassie did not remember any of these moments of her life, but she had heard the stories during her childhood and this inspired her to do the same.

What an incredible story and what an incredible FFA student!

SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Trophy Taker Taxidermy

HIGH SCHOOL: Habersham Central High School, Mount Airy, Georgia

MASCOT: Raiders

FFA ADVISOR: Amy Crump

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR CASSIE CARTER:

Click on the picture below to be taken to the Habersham Central High School FFA Department’s website:

Cassie’s FFA Advisor’s Email Address: acrump@habershamschools.com

Habersham Central High School’s Telephone Number: 709-778-7161

FFA LINKS:

National FFA Organization

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)

Support FFA

Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is 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% as well as the rest of the world. FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure 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 search for food 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