Top Row (L-R): Allison Miller, Jim Halley, Kelsie Berney, Brian Hogan. Bottom (L-R): Heather Wheatley, Brent Waite, Jake Reeves and Gabriel Gammill
We did it! We survived another holiday season. IAA’s Roving Reporter hit the streets of College Park to investigate how our students spent their holiday break and what their resolutions were for 2014. According to a series of exclusive interviews, IAA holiday attack strategies were as diverse as the students’ personalities. One common denominator was staying busy and having fun with family and friends.
If all went according to plan, the IAA students should have some great stories to tell when they return to campus on January 27. Here are some sneak previews.
Gabriel Gammill (Sports Turf Management) will be jetting home from his exciting excursion to Israel. The trip is a long standing tradition in Gabriel’s family. Joe Shaffer (Agricultural Business Management) can talk about the thrills of stalking deer “old school” style, with a bow and arrow, on his family farm. Likewise, Heather Wheatley (Ornamental Horticulture), a diehard vegetarian, can give us the skinny on stalking wild mushrooms for her family’s holiday favorite, Beef Wellington. The word on the street has it they aren’t just any old “shrooms,” they were handpicked in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the mushroom capital of world. Jacob Reeves (Golf Course Management) was last reported heading up to an action packed skiing adventure at Deep Creek, where his family has had a cabin since 2001. His departure was slated to take place immediately after woofing down a plateful of his mother’s sumptuous holiday pecan sticky buns. Kelsie Birney (Horticulture) reportedly spent days baking cookies and listening to holiday music alongside her grandmother, aunt, and mom. Each holiday season, the ensemble cranks out buckets of homemade apple butter for the Cecil County Farm Museum. Brent Waite (Golf Course Management) and his family celebrated Christmas by acting out scenes from the Bible and giving away most of their Christmas dinner to those less fortunate. Don’t worry; they always keep some fixings and desert samples for themselves. Allison Miller (Sustainable Agriculture) was scheduled to work on her family goat farm and creamery, where they churn out gazillions of holiday goat-cheese cakes. The sales are reportedly quite brisk. Her family traditionally puts a giant container of “cheese balls” under the Christmas tree for the goats to enjoy. The hard-working critters allegedly “love them,” Alison told us. She quickly added that these are not the kind of cheese-balls the goats generate themselves, but rather the wholesale version of the non-dairy “Cheetos” variety. Whatever floats their goat!
Resolutions for the New Year were just as varied as the way folks spent the holiday break. Brent resolved to spend more time with his wife and train more in Brazilian Jujitsu, which he picked up in 2007. Grant resolved to focus more on school this year. He expects that it will work out better than last year’s resolution not to drink too much soda. Brian Hogan (Golf Course Management) declared that he is determined to bear down on school. Kelsey resolved not to make any resolutions. Finally, several IAA students resolved to quit smoking and cussing, so they asked to remain anonymous.
Good luck with your resolutions, gang! Until the next time, your Roving Reporter signs off.
