Shanna Adkins and her father, Alan, have bonded with “Stormie” the heifer. Shanna, a rising senior at Alleghany High School, is learning valuable lessons from her work with Stormie. (AHPS Photo)

Heifer Helping to School and Equip AHS Student with Skills   Low Moor, VA (June 6, 2023) - A heifer is helping an Alleghany High School student learn important lifelong skills about caring for animals, and managing a farm or agribusiness.  Shanna Adkins, a rising senior at AHS, won “Stormie” the heifer in 2022 through a scholarship competition sponsored by the Virginia Hereford Association. The association awards heifers every two years to high school students across the state. “Shanna has done a fantastic job taking care of Stormie from the beginning,” said Teresa Reed, who teaches agriculture at AHS, and also serves as an advisor to the school’s Future Farmers of America chapter. Caring for Stormie has helped Shanna learn responsibility while preparing her for a possible career in agriculture. Through her experience with Stormie, she has developed a network of contacts who have helped her learn about farming and the cattle industry. Two Alleghany County cattle farmers, Chris Johnson and Jasper Persinger, are among the contacts who have proven to be invaluable resources for Shanna.  “It’s definitely a lot of hard work, but I like it. It has taught me a lot of responsibility about how to care for something,” said Shanna, who developed an interest in cattle as a child. The daughter of Alan and Jeannie Adkins of Potts Creek, Shanna is a self-described lover of animals. Shanna has been part of the agriculture program since her freshman year of high school, and she is currently FFA vice president. She is weighing a career in either nursing or veterinary science as a veterinary technician. However, cattle farming appears to be part of her more definite plans. When Shanna chooses to go to seek more training, Stormie can help foot the bill. Scholarship money is generated when the winner of a heifer decides to go into the cattle business. Previous winners of the Virginia Hereford Association scholarship have developed cattle herds and used the profits to pay for college. “I plan to build a herd. I want more cattle. One of the previous scholarship winners I have talked to has made quite a profit with it, and she says it’s going to pay for her college,” Shanna said. Thanks to assistance from Persinger, who operates Potts Creek Farm, Shanna learned the process of artificially inseminating a cow. Stormie is now expecting, and if she gives birth to another heifer, it will be given to the Virginia Hereford Association for the awarding of another scholarship. A bull would be Shanna’s to keep. Working with Stormie has fulfilled a lifelong dream for Shanna. As a child, she vividly remembers attending livestock shows at the West Virginia State Fair in Fairlea. As she viewed the show animals, she dreamed of one day owning a cow. Her grandfather was a beef cattle farmer.      “At the state fair, I would watch the shows, and I would say, ‘I really want to do this.’ I have always loved the outdoors, and I really like animals. Being part of the agriculture program and FFA at school have helped put things all together for me. Farming has already been in the family,” she said.  Showing Stormie is also among the many responsibilities Shanna has assumed over the past year. Her work with the heifer is carefully monitored and documented by Reed, who just completed her fourth year with the agriculture program at AHS.   “I can remember the day Shanna brought Stormie home,” Reed said. “She was just beaming so much. She spends a lot of time with Stormie. She actually goes out and lays with Stormie sometimes.” On the show circuit, Stormie won first place in the senior competition at the Botetourt County Fair, and she was also the grand champion in her overall classification. Shanna also entered Stormie for show in the Virginia Beef Expo earlier this year. The expo was held in Harrisonburg. “Stormie is a very friendly heifer. She loves people, and she loves having her picture taken,” Shanna said. That proved to be true in February when Stormie was part of a petting zoo at AHS. The zoo was included in the school’s FFA Week celebration, and Stormie quickly became a popular attraction with students and staff pausing to have their pictures taken with her.   During her time at AHS, Reed has helped spearhead a growing interest in agriculture among students. Agriculture is part of career and technical education (CTE) courses offered by Alleghany Highlands Public Schools. AHPS uses CTE to teach career skills to middle school and high school students.   Through CTE, AHPS exposes students to many career possibilities in agriculture, which is Virginia’s largest private industry. The industry has an economic impact of $82.3 billion annually, and it provides more than 381,000 jobs in the Commonwealth.   Prior to joining the staff at AHS, Reed worked in environmental education with the Alleghany Foundation and the Mountain Soil and Water Conservation District. She served as a teacher’s assistant at AHS for two years before taking over as teacher for the agriculture program. “A lot of the students who are coming up through the program right now are the ones I worked with on the elementary school level while I was with the Mountain Soil and Water Conservation District,” she said.   Her position with the Mountain Soil and Water Conservation District was funded by an Alleghany Foundation grant. Students interested in the agriculture program at Alleghany High School should contact their guidance counselor or Reed at teresa.reed@ahps.k12.va.us. The Alleghany County Public Schools Division was created through the July 1, 2022, merger of Alleghany County Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Jackson River Technical Center. The school division serves approximately 2,700 students. It is jointly funded by Alleghany County and the City of Covington. School division news and events are regularly updated on Facebook at AHPublicSchools, and the AHPS website at www.ahps.k12.va.us.

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