Haley Shope and her roommate for the week, Cambrie Lane, from Easton Valley School District stand in front of the World War II Monument in Washington DC. Photo Provided

Haley Shope is a senior at South Tama County High School. If you have not had the pleasure to meet this exceptional young woman, then allow me to introduce you to her. Haley is the daughter of Stacey and the late Mike Shope. She lives on a working farm outside of Toledo and is active in year-round activities at STC. She has played softball and has serves as a manager for the volleyball and wrestling teams. Haley is also a member of the National Honor Society, has participated in band and speech for most of her high school career, and is heavily involved within area youth agriculture programs such as 4H and FFA, which she is most passionate about. In her free time Haley likes towell let’s be real; between school activities, a part-time job, and farm life Haley doesn’t appear to have much free time. But I get the feeling she prefers it that way.

Last summer Haley was honored with the experience of attending the FFA Leadership Conference in Washington D.C. The conference was designed to help students grow in their leadership abilities and grow as a person. For Haley it was “an experience I will never forget.”

While at the week-long conference Haley sat in on sessions about leadership, toured various monuments throughout the city, and also made fast friends with her roommates from Ohio and Kansas.

The most impactful part of the trip for Haley was visiting Arlington National Cemetery. She has family who has served in the military and so being in such a hallowed space left a lasting impression on her.

During my time chatting with Haley about her experiences she spoke of the blue corduroy jackets than accompany each and every member of the FFA organization. It was very moving for her to stand amongst a sea of blue corduroy, a fabric that binds and unites members of FFA across the world.

Haley Shope from South Tama and Cambrie Lane, from Easton Valley School District stand in front of the Washington Monument while attending an FFA Leadership Conference during the summer.

Also at the leadership conference students were required to set a goal. Haley’s goal was to become more involved with helping to end world hunger.

While it may seem like a lofty goal when talking with Haley I believe that she is up to the challenge. Haley took her goal seriously and after writing a paper about her intentions to end world hunger, she took her paper to the Youth Initiative in Ames, Iowa this past fall. Over 200 students were in attendance. At the Youth Initiative Haley was able to talk about her paper and present her ideas. Haley chose to research the country of Malawi, which is located in the southern tip of Africa. She chose the country of Malawi because she felt that it is overlooked since it is such a small country.

A couple of months later Haley found out she was selected to attend the World Food Prize award ceremony in October. The World Food Prize is an international award that is presented to those that have significantly contributed to improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. The organization along with the ceremony is headquartered in Des Moines and stands as agricultures version of the Nobel Peace Prize.

At the World Food Prize the focus was on fisheries and aqua culture. Haley also got to take a day trip to Tone Spices where they toured the plant and warehouse. They also spent time packaging over 240,000 meals some of with stayed local and a majority went overseas. A very special moment for Haley was that the former president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, was a guest speaker as well as the runner up for the World Food Prize. Banda held up a bag of the food that had been packaged by the students attending the World Food Prize. For Haley to see a fellow woman talking about what that food represented to Banda’s country was truly inspiring.

Shope is very grateful for several people in her life who have encouraged her throughout her schooling. She spoke of her uncle Tom McKinley and also of STC teacher Seth Koch who has really stepped up to help out the FFA Chapter in the absence of a dedicated instructor. Emily Chyma is another teacher on Shope’s list. Chyma traveled with Shope to the Leadership Conference in Washington D.C.

While attending a leadership conference for FFA students were able to spend time packaging meals. Some of the meals were kept in the U.S. while most were sent overseas.

While Shope may be graduating this year I don’t think this is the last we will see of this bright, young individual. She has long-term goals for the local FFA Chapter, which includes a community garden. She also hopes to bring a food-packaging project to South Tama. She is very connected to her family and her family’s farm. Haley will be attending Iowa State University in the fall and intends on becoming a large animal veterinarian. With all of her goals and aspirations Haley Shope is a person who is going to change the world.