FFA Treasurer Instills Confidence to Pursue Agriculture

By Tim Hammerich with the Ag Information Network of the West

Reese Gonsalves was elected state FFA Treasurer at their virtual convention in April. She is a 4th generation family farmer and 3rd generation Modesto FFA member. Through her experience she found a love for the marketing and communications side of the ag industry.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve helped more with my family’s sale, kind of in the media side of things. So we have a bull sale every year and our sale is all online,” said Gonsalves. “We record videos and take pictures of the bulls, and then have it in a catalog and stuff. So I’ve helped a little bit more with that. I really like helping photograph the bulls and doing the sale management as well. So it’s kind of shifted as I’ve gotten older, which has been really cool because I found that my passion is actually more with the media and meeting with customers side of the production.”

Gonsalves said the FFA has given her confidence, and she hopes to spend this state officer year instilling a level of confidence in others.

“If I can help one member, and help them get the confidence to be able to help other people, I think that that would be amazing and to be a really great chain reaction of members helping other members,” said Gonsalves.

Her FFA experiences have inspired her to pursue degrees in Agricultural Communications and Agribusiness. She will attend Oklahoma State University after her year of service to the organization.