Story and lead Photo by Rick Hiduk
Members of the Endless Mountains 4-H Club gather at the Pennsylvania Farm Show’s famous butter sculpture upon arrival at the Farm Show Complex recently. The youths were treated to a special presentation by author, inventor, and college professor Temple Grandin before they ventured out into the Complex to see all that the 109th Farm Show had to offer.
Photo courtesy PA Department of Agriculture
(originally published in the Rocket Courier)
People of all ages flocked to a presentation by Temple Grandin at the Pennsylvania Farm Show this year. The celebrated author and animal sciences professor is as well known for her essays on the humane treatment of livestock as she is for championing diversity in the ag industry, especially for those with autism. Grandin is the subject of an award-winning documentary and was listed among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010.
“I learned about Temple Grandin several years ago at a Mother Earth News Fair,” Endless Mountains 4-H adviser Amanda Ruark related. She accompanied two dozen 4-H members from Bradford, Wyoming, and Susquehanna counties to the Farm Show. Ruark felt that the students would relate to Grandin’s focus on proper animal handling and behaviors – both important topics for 4-H members involved in raising and showing livestock – as well as her story of using her own autism to break trough stereotypes and achieve her goals. “I wanted the kids to see real live proof that, no matter what, you are able to overcome such obstacles and follow your dreams of success,” Amanda stated.
Grandin spent ample time promoting the involvement of youth in agriculture and supporting FFA and 4-H programs. “She also stressed the importance of taking shop classes in school to expose students to those important problem solving skills,” said Tunkhannock High School (THS) shop teacher and FFA adviser Rob Gustin, who took in Grandin’s presentation with 10 of his students.
Aleah Robinson, a THS freshman who attended with the 4-H group, maintained that Grandin’s speech more than met her expectations. “I knew that it would be educational,” Aleah offered. She too was impressed by Grandin’s life story, especially “the part where she talked about how she viewed things in different ways than others and she saw different things.”
In an interview after the presentation, Grandin shared a story of working in a hog processing plant where she estimated that 20 percent of the employees had some level of learning disability, including autism. But their differences allowed them to excel at tasks that others would find mundane or difficult for other reasons. The better managers, Grandin suggested, saw those differences as assets to the company and encouraged those employees to move in the directions that worked best for them.
“Everyone deserves the same opportunity,” Amanda said of the message she hopes the students gleaned from Grandin’s story. “It just might look differently than the one for you and I, and that’s OK.”
“Temple had a very impactful speech, and I’m very glad to have listened to it,” Camden Ruark, a nine-year 4-H member from Meshoppen offered. “I think the most impactful thing she talked about that I will remember forever is how she had to overcome her challenge of autism on her own. It made me feel more grateful as well as appreciative of my life and conveyed the idea that you can do whatever you do as long as you put your mind to it.”
According to Amanda Ruark, members of the Endless Mountains 4-H Club in attendance represented communities like Wyalusing, Nicholson, Springville, Meshoppen, LeRaysville, Lawton, Springville, and Factoryville. Activities and projects pursued by the youths include but are not limited to archery, arts and crafts, beekeeping, bread making, cake decorating, dairy goats, electronics, first-responder MyPI traning, floral arranging, livestock, photography, poultry, sewing and shooting sports.
Grandin’s presentation touched on numerous relative topics, including the increase in women in agricultural studies and fields. Amanda noted that “several young ladies in our livestock project have expressed interest in pursuing futures in ag-related matters, whether it be breeding operations, vet science, or crop farming.”