{"id":5649,"date":"2016-09-16T11:11:29","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T16:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=5649"},"modified":"2016-09-20T11:32:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T16:32:29","slug":"arkansas-4-h-president-mary-alice-cole-always-sau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2016\/arkansas-4-h-president-mary-alice-cole-always-sau\/","title":{"rendered":"For Arkansas 4-H President Mary Alice Cole, it’s always been SAU"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mary-alice-cole-ark-4-h-president-at-sau-use-img_2117\"<\/a>Mary Alice Cole never doubted she wanted to attend Southern Arkansas University, and now, after becoming state president of Arkansas 4-H, the incoming freshman has achieved that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I was little, I always said I was going to SAU,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWhen I first came to tour, I got this feeling of home. It\u2019s big enough for me to meet someone new every day, but small enough I can walk to class and see someone who knows me. I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole, who is majoring in Agriculture Animal Science and minoring in digital photography and film, comes to Magnolia from Melbourne, Ark., where she grew up riding horses and participating in rodeos and the Izard County Fair. \u201cI started with poultry projects, and that turned into showing a goat and that turned into showing a sheep,\u201d she said. \u201cMy grandfather put me on my first horse when I was six months old. I started at a young age and have done everything from running barrels to goat-tying and anything in between. When I go home on the weekend, I\u2019m in rodeo.\u201d<\/p>\n

She joined 4-H when she was 12 years old and has progressed from showing livestock to photography. \u201cI\u2019ve done everything from robotics to sewing my own outfits,\u201d she said. \u201cI grew up in a very small town. My grandfather has a small cattle farm and I grew up riding. My mom showed hogs and I went to the county fair and rodeos. The rodeo amazed me. I participated in sports but Mom told me I would have to choose either sports or 4-H. I chose 4-H.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her involvement with 4-H, in fact, began with her mom and some chickens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really wanted chickens and were told to check with our extension agent,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWe raised 25 chickens, and that August we took them to the fair. That\u2019s where I saw 4-H members helping each other. I told Mom that was what I wanted to do \u2013 join 4-H and be very active in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I didn\u2019t know anything about the state level, just the county,\u201d she said. \u201cAt Team Leader Conference (TLC), I saw all these green jackets, and I was told they belonged to the state officers. Once I learned the different things officers did, I knew I wanted to be one.\u201d Today, of course, Cole sports the green jacket.<\/p>\n

Reaching her post required her to go through the normal interview and application processes. It also required Cole to overcome her inexperience with \u2013 and fear of \u2013 public speaking. \u201cToday I am completely different than when I went into 4-H,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t speak in front of a crowd. I couldn\u2019t talk to anyone who wasn\u2019t my friend. Now I am not so soft-spoken and I can talk to anyone. That will help me on this campus. I can make friends. I feel like I can talk to my professors about anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was elected state 4-H president at State-O-Rama in Fayetteville this past August and looks forward to representing Arkansas at the Southern Regional TLC in Tennessee. She will also attend a healthy living conference at the National 4-H Center in Washington, D.C., later this year. \u201cThat\u2019s my favorite city and it\u2019ll be my fourth time getting to go,\u201d Cole said. She will also participate in statewide 4-H events and represent the club at football games and meetings across Arkansas.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s still open to career plans. \u201cIf I could choose one dream career, it would be photographer,\u201d Cole said. \u201cA very close second would be to work at the UA Extension Center in Batesville. They work with animals and I\u2019d like to live close to home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole said she enjoyed interning this past summer with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Communications Department. \u201cI wrote a number of articles, took pictures and ran the social media for Arkansas 4-H. That gave me good insight into what it is like to work in a communications department. I moved to Little Rock right after I graduated Melbourne in May, and it was very eye-opening, living there. I started (the internship) the first week in June and ended the first of August.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s putting her photography skills to use this semester for SAU\u2019s Bray student newspaper (www.thebray.com). \u201cI\u2019m very excited about photographing what\u2019s going on around campus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cole has big expectations for her first year at SAU. \u201cI hope to excel in my classes and in extracurricular activities,\u201d she said. \u201cI hope to rush next semester and generally get more involved on campus. I want to get started on those lifetime friendships. I know this school will give me the education and the opportunities I need to succeed in my career and throughout life. 4-H has played a big role in that already. I know I\u2019ll be able to accomplish my hopes and dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Alice Cole never doubted she wanted to attend Southern Arkansas University, and now, after becoming state president of Arkansas 4-H, the incoming freshman has achieved that goal. \u201cEver since I was little, I always said I was going to SAU,\u201d Cole said. \u201cWhen I first came to tour, I got this feeling of home…. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":5650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[65,308,32641],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-agriculture","8":"category-college-of-science-and-technology","9":"category-featured-layout","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}