COALINGA, Calif. (KFSN) — Coalinga High School graduation is taking place Thursday night and one senior has an extra pep in her step thanks to recently being awarded a college scholarship from the National Future Farmers of America.
Samantha Selliers has spent a lot of time on the Coalinga High School farm.
But it definitely wasn't her first choice.
She initially joined the Future Farmers of America because her mom made her.
"And I was like, Yeah, this is basically not gonna be my thing. Turned out it was definitely my thing. I've been in there for four plus years now," Samantha said.
The first thing she fell in love with was the public speaking competitions.
Her sophomore and junior years, she focused her speech on mental health and the ag industry after learning farmers were two to three times more likely to die by suicide than other career paths.
"And we were kind of worried, because it was kind of so sad that we wouldn't be able to speak it. But they ended up loving it. I placed really high that year," Samantha said.
She even went on to create a social media page dedicated to spreading awareness and resources.
She started poultry production her sophomore year.
She's shown meat birds at the Fresno fair and completed five supervised agriculture experiences, which are hands-on learning activities allowing students to apply their knowledge and skills in real-world settings related to agriculture.
Coalinga FFA Ag Advisor Kelley Mellott says she's been able to watch Samantha grow.
"Sammi is one of the very few who I've had from freshman year through senior year," Mellott said.
She says Samantha constantly pushes to do more and encourages others to get involved.
"Being from Coalinga, being such a big agricultural town, wanting to make a difference, that's huge. It was really made me proud of her, to see her kind of develop that and want to make a difference. It's It was amazing," Mellott said.
All of Samantha's hard work was acknowledged recently when she found out she was one of 54 students in the nation – and the only student in California – to receive the National FFA Tractor Supply 4-year college scholarship worth $10,000.
"And I looked at it and I saw 1,000 at first. And I kind of looked at it again. I started counting zeros," Samantha said as she reenacted how her jaw dropped.
That money, along with a handful of other scholarships from Harris Ranch, Westlands Water District, and Tri Counties Bank will support her as she begins college at Kansas State this fall.
"It was really cool opening that up and finding out, like, four years of FFA had kind of paid off, in a sense," Samantha said.
Samantha will move to Kansas in August.
She plans to double major in ag communications and finance, but she'll also be on a pre-law track.
For news updates, follow Jessica Harrington on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
