Name: Jonathan Williams
Parents: Clayton G. and Beth Williams
FFA Chapter: Kansas, Okla., FFA; advisor, Clayton G. Williams
How has your involvement in FFA and at your family’s farm shaped you into the person you’ve become?
“I’m more responsible about schoolwork and finances, more outgoing and more willing to learn new techniques. I’ve been president of my senior class and the Student Council and was involved in the basketball and football teams, 4-H, FFA, Advanced Leadership Development and the Beta Club. All of this makes me better prepared for life outside of high school. Performing chores on my parents’ (215-acre Angus commercial cross) cattle operation has helped me appreciate well-maintained, working equipment, and it’s influenced me in the proper ways to care for cattle and the efficiency in farming. I’ve always been motivated to get it done so I could attend camps or other activities. I learned to weld here and in an ag program, and that’s helped me put in new fencing on the farm as well as on my job.”
Tell us about your award-winning ag mechanics design.
“I work for Brashears Farms in Kansas building rebar reinforcement cages for cement troughs. My brothers and I worked on refining the design and updating it to make easier when building the cement troughs. We all had ideas on how to fix it, but the final design was the one I made. It’s a real simple process to frame out the rebar once you figure out the design. My intent was to get it built faster and to make the rebar frame stronger, which, in turn, made the trough stronger and more cost efficient for the owner-producer.” Jonathan won the second place Oklahoma FFA Ag Mechanics Design and Fabrication Proficiency Award at the 2010 state convention.
Future Plans: “This fall, I’ll be an incoming freshman at Oklahoma State University at Stillwater, where I’ll be majoring in agricultural education and animal science. I’d like to work as an agricultural-education teacher or as an extension agent. I also want my own Angus cow-calf operation.”
By Jules Miller
