LIA Briefs

Congratulations to Galen Lee, Class 10, who has been named President of American Sugarbeet Association. Galen, a fourth generation farmer, farms in the New Plymouth area and is the first Amalgamated Sugar grower to serve as president of the national group. As president, he will carry a major amount of responsibility for the next two years. Galen served as co-chairman for LIA Class 11.

Congratulations to Aaron Johnson, Class 34, who was named Outstanding Advisor in the Department of Ag Econ and Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho.

Brad McIntyre, Class 29, was named Conservationist of the Year by the Owyhee Conservation District. Brad is involved with his dad and brothers in a farming and custom hay harvesting business. Brad has been very active in efforts to use cover crops on their farm.

Kim O'Neill, Class 27, and Ryan Anderson were married on March 17 in Moscow.  Ryan is originally from the same hometown as Kim (Stanwood, WA). Ryan has been in Greenville, NC, where he has been the operations manager for a trucking company for seven years. Ryan will be working remotely from Moscow, where the newlyweds will reside, along with Kim's eight year old daughter, Stella.

Congratulations to Gretchen Hansten who was elected as the Idaho State FFA President. Proud parents are Alan Hansten, Class 36, and his wife, Sheri. 

The LIA Board of Trustees met on April 4 for their first meeting of the new LIA year. Action taken by the board included:

• $10,000 invested into the Idaho Community Foundation in the name of the LIA Foundation
• $50,000 set as the 2017 auction goal
• 2016-2017 alumni dues to remain the same as 2015-2016:
  • Annual Membership: $50/person and $75/couple, if both are graduates
  • Lifetime Membership:  $1000, with a graduated payment plan option
• Tuition for Class 38 set at $2,400/participant
• Pro/Con topic selected for Class 37 – to remain top secret till the Moscow session
• Fee for Washington, D.C., Experience ’17 to remain the same - $500
• Contract approved with Rick Waitley as Executive Director for April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017
• Contract approved with Kendra Dustin as Development Director for July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017
• LIA committees confirmed for the coming year of operation

 
Washington, D.C., Experience ’16
Our group just returned home over the weekend.  Kendra Dustin, Class 32, Development Director, and Rick Waitley, Class 8, Program Director, coordinated the schedule. This year’s participants included:

Jeremey Varley, Class 35
Rosana Rieth, Class 36
Jim Lowe, Class 31
Lori Satterwhite, Class 36
Lucas Spratling, Class 36
Gina Davis, Class 26    
Kyle Wangemann, Class 36

• We had the opportunity to meet with Dan Whiting, Class 22, for an update on Dan’s life in Maryland.
• On Sunday night we met with Cedric, the young man from Africa who visited Idaho in September 2015. Cedric had just returned from a month’s stay in Cameroon and had many stories about how he tried to explain Idaho farming techniques to his family and neighbors in his home country.
• We met with Idaho’s members of Congress, several trade organizations, and visited USDA APHIS.
• Partial sponsorship of the trip was through a CHS grant.
• Two spouses - Emily Wangemann and Laurie Spratling - also attended this year.