But after earning that A, Coalville senior Emma Swanson has started to pursue another A aggressively: agriculture.

After moving to FDSH from Pocahontas this year, the passion Swanson had gotten so acquainted with encountered some local deficits. With Fort Dodge’s high school unable to procure an ag teacher, Swanson said she has missed being able to take a more expansive array of agriculture classes and participate in the local FFA.

In her senior year, Swanson wants to raise awareness of the importance of agriculture with students much in the same way her eyes have been opened over the last three years. By putting a spotlight on ag through planned presentations, she hopes to instill an appreciation for the way of life that nearly every aspect of the local economy is tied to.

“That kind of appreciation (for agriculture) is missing from kids,” Swanson said. “If ag shuts down, you don’t have the things you want. If we shut down, pretty much our entire country shuts down.”

When she started with a simple vegetable production class her freshman year, she thought agriculture was “farming corn and soybeans, pretty much.” Now, she aims to show her peers that it’s more than just “cows, sows and plows.”

A former FFA president himself, Jesse Ulrich, superintendent for Fort Dodge Community School District, said he woudn’t be where he is today without the leadership skills and opportunities he gained in the program.

“It’s important to bring ag education to Fort Dodge because when you look at our region and the industries related to ag science, it’s not just farming,” he said.

He said the experience and development students gain through FFA and the naturally diverse array of ag education transforms their potential for opportunity during and beyond high school.

Ulrich said the district, which has advertised for a position that would enable a wide array of new classes and an FFA, has had difficulty finding someone willing to take the position in Fort Dodge. The last applicant the position was offered to turned it down.

He said that in today’s applicant pool, that’s not uncommon for those with qualifying experience and a background in agriculture, primarily because public schools have to compete with large private sector companies that are often able to offer much higher compensation.

“There is a major shortage of ag education teachers,” the superintendent said, adding that the district fully plans to offer a robust ag education program as soon as it can. “If we can get that type of learning for kids and tie components to leadership opportunities, those are all things we’d love to be able to bring to our kids.”

But “without a teacher, we can’t have a program,” he reiterated.

Through prior FFA experience, Swanson said she’s already bonded with some of the most respectable, responsible students who are the future of Iowa with opportunities like the annual legislative symposium at the Capitol.

Though a teacher sparked a flame, a novel experience with a duck fanned it. While raising and showing a duck at county fair that had a prolapse, she had to do thorough research to figure out how to fix the problem.

“I got really interested in these things I didn’t know could happen,” she said.

Now Swanson, named Iowa Miss Agriculture USA this year, plans to eventually pursue an animal science degree at Iowa State University in Ames and go into the field of artificial insemination.

It’s far from the typical recitations students give when they talk about what they want to do when they grow up, but is perhaps a testament to the power of passion to be found in agriculture and animal science.

Soon, she hopes others can find that niche in their lives as she pushes to ensure they have the same chance at discovery she did.

“It’s something I think is really important for all kids,” she said.