Tag: Rural Ambassadors

🌾🏆Announcing the 2024 BlueScope WIN Community Partnerships Rural Ambassador Winners 🚜🌟🌱

 

Sarah Evans, Kate Bourke, Bec Weir, Liam Pearson and Nikki McCarthy Hicks  from BlueScope WIN Community Partnerships program

Alongside my fellow judges Sharon Makin and Henry Martignago, I had the pleasure of meeting, working with, and getting to know our remarkable rural ambassador over the past week. This year’s lineup truly embodies the spirit of modern agriculture and community involvement.

And we have a winner and an encouragement award recipient .

BlueScope WIN Community Partnerships 2024 Winner – Rebecca (Bec) Weir 🌟

From Gerringong, Bec Weir truly represents the modern agriculturalist. Balancing family life with multiple roles, Bec holds a Certificate III in agriculture and brings eight years of experience in dairy farming. Working part-time at Bailey’s Dairy Farm, alongside her retail roles at Spotlight and Woolworths, she’s a testament to dedication and versatility. Beyond her professional commitments, Bec instils a love of farming in her children, involving them in caring for farm animals and gardening. Active in the TAG group and show exhibiting, she’s developing an outreach program for schools and daycare centres, aiming to bridge the agricultural knowledge gap. Her outgoing personality and passion for inclusive agricultural promotion make her an outstanding ambassador.

AG Shows  Next Gen NSW Encouragement Award Winner – Liam Pearson 🏆

Liam Pearson blends his mechanical engineering background with a deep passion for agriculture. Holding a Cert 3 in Mechanical Engineering and working as a plant operator at Boral Cement, Liam also cherishes his upbringing on a small farm. His diverse interests, from dairy cattle to outdoor activities, reflect his multifaceted skill set. As part of the Albion Park Show, Liam is dedicated to creating community connections and advocating for mental health support within the agricultural realm.

Kate Bourke – A Diverse Advocate for Agriculture 🚜

Kate Bourke’s expertise spans agriculture and mechanics, driving both her career and community involvement. With a Certificate IV in Agriculture and mechanic qualifications, she’s had diverse experiences from being a fencing contractor to working on a cropping station. Her current role at a dairy farm in Jamberoo and active participation in pony club events, horse sporting, and the showgirl competition highlight her commitment to agriculture. As a rural ambassador, Kate’s focus is on promoting agriculture as a viable career and volunteer opportunity, especially to schools, symbolising the empowerment of women in the sector.

Sarah Evans – A Passionate Aspirant for Rural Ambassadorship 🐎

Sarah Evans, a dental assistant aspires to make a significant contribution as a rural ambassador. With qualifications in Performance Horses and Agriculture, her lifelong involvement in shows since age 8, and leadership roles, Sarah’s dedication is evident. Her volunteering efforts, from the local nursing home to the Rural Fire Service, complement her diverse talents including competitive all-star cheerleading. Her aspiration to own a horse and contribute to the agricultural show movement reflects her passion and commitment.

Congratulations to all our winners and participants. Your dedication to agriculture and community is truly inspiring. We look forward to seeing the positive impact you will make as ambassadors in the agricultural community.

#RuralAmbassadors #BlueScopeWIN #AgriculturalExcellence #CommunityLeaders #FarmingFuture

Country shows providing a vehicle for young people to lead

Thanks to Ryan McParland and his TAG team members I am getting an inside seat of behind the scenes at our local country shows

This week it was Robertson Show where I was fascinated by the ring announcers and the variety of ways that locals could test their fitness

It was a very hot day but this didn’t seem to dampen the community spirit nor the punters with the Famous Robertson Show’s Australian Championship Potato Race the highlight

Two women and 29 men lined up to tackle the Famous Robertson Show’s Australian Championship Potato Race under the beating sun. Matty Hammond from Robertson ran a strong race snatching first place followed by Max Mauger from Robertson in second place and Nigel Scannell from Bowral in third. Source

Then there was the harness races where people replaced horses in front of the sulky

The exhibits in the pavilion where stunning

and once again the Rural Ambassador program was a huge success with Angela Hughes declared the winner. Photo source  

Congratulations Ryan you are creating a movement of young people who are role models for youth volunteering

#youthinag #creatingabetterworldtogether

Agricultural Shows – a lesson in high level community organisation and volunteer succession planning

Employers are:

82% more likely to choose a candidate with volunteering experience and

85% more likely to overlook resume flaws when volunteer work is present. 

As the Action4Agriculture team recognise two of our own volunteers ( Emily May and Danielle Fordham) by nominating them for the NSW Government Hidden Treasures Honor Role I am finding myself admiring some other organisations manned by volunteers that I have been working with

This post is a celebration of the work of Ryan McParland who comes from a long line of family volunteers with a shared passion for local agricultural shows.

Ryan played a founding role in his local show society’s ‘youth in ag’ group and is working to replicate and scale the Rural Ambassador model for the South Coast and Tablelands, all while working as a mechanical engineer at BlueScope Steel where he is a highly valued member of the team as this quote from his manager reinforces

Ryan is a gifted engineer who continually seeks improvement, not only in himself but in the people and the systems around him. As a genuine leader, he engenders a spirit of cooperation and engages those he works with, seldom taking the credit that is his due.

Ryan is well known to be a youth leader outside of our company, regularly involving us with him in charitable fund raising, promoting the shows and team building activities that lean heavily on his agricultural life experiences.

Ryan is a role model, who is genuine and is an asset to anyone fortunate to work with him.

Harry Murphy  Manager  Energy Services Asset Development, Digital, Services and Manufacturing Excellence

Ryan  was a 2021  RAS of NSW Rural Achiever and his experience inspired him to kickstart a similar initiative at local shows in his region. Ryan recently invited me to judge the Albion Park Rural Ambassador program that he has been instrumental in founding, with the long term view of seeing it replicated at all NSW shows. These young people come from all walks of life, with a dedication to give back to the communities they are proud of.

I first met the Rural Ambassador finalists, Maddi Calloway, Shaylene Mawbey, Jayda Tisma and Ethan Forsyth a week before the show for their interviews. I  was gob smacked. All came well prepared and answered the questions from their hearts with a raw authenticity we don’t see enough of in the 21st century.

Ryan then managed to entice WINNews ( and me to support them) to showcase the ambassadors

Then I got to spend a whole day at the show watching them and their extraordinary volunteer work ethic in action.

I certainly discovered just important volunteers are. Wow so much happens in 12 hours at an agricultural show.

These wonderful pictures from the Wollongong Camera Club share some of the joy and excitement

Its a a family affair with Ryan’s brother Glenn coordinates the animal nursey – bring his farmyard to the show

There are opportunities to milk a cow, real ones and faux ones

There are competitions

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There is sideshow alley and face painting

and show food – chip on a stick. With potatoes in short supply I wasn’t overly surprised to see these sell for $10 each

and those stunt people that thrill the crowds and seem to have no fear. Did I hear correctly this truck cost $400K?

and it all seems to run like clockwork.

There are some important research facts around the value of volunteering for young people.

They bring fresh ideas,  they adjust easily, they are naturally inquisitive, and are more likely to discover creative solutions.

Volunteering can have a positive impact on volunteers as well as the people and organisations they help.

  • From building skills like collaboration and problem solving
  • they get invaluable life experiences.

Volunteers must put their own needs aside to address the needs of others.

Exposure to meaningful volunteer opportunities as children and young people helps foster lasting empathy and a sense of belonging, qualities necessary in cultivating safe, unified communities.

After shadowing the Albion Park Show rural ambassadors for a week I am in awe of what it takes to draw a record crowd to an event and keep them entertained from 8am until 10pm. A reminder of how important it is that young people like Ethan Forsyth, Madi Calloway, Shay Mawbey and Jayda Tisma put their hands up to carry on the proud tradition of community volunteering that it takes to make it all happen

Congratulations to Madi Calloway who is the 2023 Albion Park Show Rural Ambassador – a truly tough decision. Mega shoutout to Ryan McParland doing an extraordinary job of bringing local youth together. 🙏 BlueScope and #WINTV for investing in NextGen #countryshows #community #youthinag #volunteering #action4agriculture

 

See the wonderful photos from the Wollongong Camera Club here 

 

 

#makingadifference #creatingabetterworldtogether