Warrenton High School senior Bailey Schneider has a passion for agriculture and for service. 

She’s involved in the National Honor Society and the FFA at the high school, and is a member of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, 4H and the Missouri Farm Bureau Association, and the Missouri Youth Show Circuit outside of school.

She’s also preparing to attend college and then take over the family farm in the future, but first she will head to the University of Missouri with a dream of becoming an agricultural lobbyist.

Q. How did you get involved in agriculture and animals?

“It all started just how I was raised. … And I grew up just helping on the farm and agriculture was everything I knew. Then my dad and his brother started raising show pigs when I was about 6 years old. … So anywhere from just feeding the pigs to showing them or even helping with farrowing, which is them giving birth. I’ve been doing it all and now my uncle, he’s out of the show pig business, and I am pretty much my dad’s business partner. So that’s been very, very fun to be a part of. But essentially my involvement in agriculture all started on my grandpa’s farm, helping feed cattle or just riding with him to feed them. And that’s where my passion for ag started. That is where I found out that’s the industry I need to be involved in, simply because my heart for that industry is so big.”

Dare to Excel: Wright City senior Nathan Bowman

Q. What do you do with 4-H?

“Essentially I started 4-H to begin showing livestock. But the moment that I was old enough, I started running for office. I held the office of reporter for two years in the Camp Branch 4-H Club, and I was also secretary one year as well and then was president, the first president actually, of the Prairie View 4-H Club when we first began a few years ago. And I’ve been doing a lot of leadership roles there. ... I was also a 4-H agricultural innovator last year, which is at the state level and you get selected through an application process and when you’re selected you get to go to a training and you’re taught on  a specific industry issue or technology for the year. My year we were talking about drones in agriculture. And I was tasked with reaching over 100 kids in 4-H that summer. And at the end, we would receive a scholarship after it. But doing the innovator work, I was able to connect with a ton of kids from across the county and teach them about this specific topic. That was a lot of fun.”

Dare to Excel: Warrenton senior Phillip Kackley

Q. What do you do with the National Honor Society?
“National Honor Society is mainly based upon doing a lot of community service activities. … I also complete outside of school service hours. … A big one I got to complete was an outside of school service activity. I have a sweet corn business that I do on my farm and I took a good chunk of my fresh produce and donated it to Agape because I have worked there before and I know how much they struggle with getting fresh produce. So I donated a lot of my sweet corn to them.”

Dare to Excel: Liberty Christian senior Andreanna Scheltens

Q. How did you develop your interest in service and what keeps you going?

“I started getting interested in helping others actually started with 4-H because we do a lot of community service things through that, whether that be cleaning up the fairgrounds or things similar to that. But it also started through my grade school. I went to Holy Rosary for nine years … and we all were taught about humility and compassion and showing God’s love to everybody. And that's really where that passion started. I mean, I have a big passion for agriculture, but I also have a huge passion for helping others because my faith is very strong and I know that I can just help others through showing God's love to them.”

Dare to Excel: Wright City senior Charleigh Ferrell

Q. What keeps you dedicated and going with your agriculture interests?

“What really keeps me going with it is just my love for it. It’s something that is a gift because I know it’s very rare for people my age to be so involved especially in production agriculture and I know I shouldn’t take it for granted. … And I also love animals. God gave me this opportunity for a reason and I shouldn’t take it for granted. It’s really just a blessing to do this and that’s really what keeps me going.”

Dare to Excel: Warrenton senior Roy Briggs

Favorite class: English or agriculture

Favorite food: Sushi

Favorite type of music: Nineties country music

Favorite musician: Lady Wilson

Favorite vacation spot: Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons, “but my dream would be Glacier National Park.”

Dare to Excel: Wright City senior Tayla Payne

About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com