{"id":6693,"date":"2019-03-21T13:22:25","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T20:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/reconnect\/?page_id=6693"},"modified":"2019-04-03T11:30:45","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T18:30:45","slug":"where-legacies-begin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cahnrs.wsu.edu\/reconnect\/reconnect-2019\/where-legacies-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Legacies Begin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Where Legacies Begin<\/h1>\n

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\n\t\t\tNew club helps minority students connect, share fresh perspective\t<\/h2>\n

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F<\/span>or Letty Trejo, <\/strong>a senior from Bridgeport, Wash., attending college was never a given.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy earliest memories are of my parents waking up before sunrise to pick fruit,\u201d she says. \u201cBridgeport is a small town of mostly migrant farm workers, so I\u2019ve grown up with agriculture happening all around me, but I really had no guidance on attending college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Af ter a year at Wenatchee Valley College, Trejo transferred to WSU because, \u201cI knew they had great agriculture programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

This spring, Trejo will complete a bachelor\u2019s degree in Agriculture and Food Security with minors in Crop Science and Agriculture and Food Systems. When she dons the cap and gown to receive her diplo\u00adma, she\u2019ll be the first college graduate in her family.<\/p>\n

From Guam to Pullman<\/h3>\n

Tomyia Wallace\u2019s journey to WSU started half way around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the first in my family to go to college,\u201d Wallace says, \u201cand I\u2019m also the first to join the military.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five years of service in the US Navy took Wallace first to Japan and then to Guam. But it was her desire to study agriculture that brought her to Pullman. \u201cMy grandmother has a green thumb,\u201d Wallace explains, \u201cand I always wanted to be like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

At WSU, Wallace decided on a career that could help prevent illness: growing nutritious food and teaching others how to do the same.<\/p>\n

Like Trejo, Wallace felt the challenges of being a minority student studying ag riculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the only black female in any of my ag riculture classes,\u201d she says.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The need for new perspectives<\/h3>\n

Their shared identity as minority agriculture students led Trejo and Wallace to help start one of WSU\u2019s newest campus organizations: the WSU chap\u00adter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences. Known by the acronym MANRRS, the club is a national organization, with chapters in universities across the country.<\/p>\n

Colette Casavant, CAHNRS\u2019 Lead Academic Coordinator, first proposed the idea of starting a MANRRS chapter at WSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw an incredibly valuable resource for Wash\u00adington state and for WSU students, something that really let them hone leadership skills,\u201d Casavant explains.<\/p>\n

In the fall of 2018, the WSU MANRRS chapter held its first official meeting. Trejo was elected president.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Making an impact<\/h3>\n

The benefits of the club are already apparent. In October, MANRRS members attended a regional conference at Oregon State University. Inspired by what they saw around them, several WSU students, including Wallace, entered the debate competition and won. They\u2019ll be attending the national debate competition this spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cMANRRS provides minority students with the opportunity to create relationships and make connections with industry members that will one day hire us,\u201d says Trejo, who has just been offered an internship at Land O\u2019 Lakes. After graduation, she will move to Corinne, Utah, as a Winfield United Technology Manager intern.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to sit and have breakfast with the president of a company and talk about my career goals, my background, and how I could fit into their company are some of the opportunities MANRRS has offered me that I don\u2019t think I would have oth\u00aderwise,\u201d Trejo says.<\/p>\n

But the value of MANRRS isn\u2019t just in what it offers to CAHNRS students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had to tell someone that they should donate money to help support MANRRS, I would tell them that they\u2019re contributing to the future of agricul\u00adture,\u201d Trejo said. \u201cThey\u2019re helping provide industry with diverse leaders who have new and different perspectives to better our world.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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CONNECT with CAHNRS<\/h2>\n

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