Gordon native Anna Shadbolt has one of kind experience at LEAD seminar

Nebraska LEAD Program Fellow Anna Shadbolt participated in a ten-day National Study/Travel Seminar conducted by the Nebraska LEAD Program, February 8-17. Dr. Terry Hejny, Director of the Nebraska LEAD Program served as group leader for the study/travel seminar to Kansas City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Shadbolt is a native of Gordon, Neb.

During the seminar Nebraska LEAD Fellows met with business, industry and government leaders. Several highlights included visits to: CenterPoint, MyCo Planet, Region 7 EPA and Dairy Farmers of America to meet with Farm Journal and Cultivate KC, among others in Kansas City; American Farm Bureau Federation, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Embassies of the Canada and Mexico, USDA, in Washington, D.C; the Greater Chicago Food Depository, NuFarm, the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and Climate-Fieldview in Chicago. Also included in this year’s experience were briefings regarding the John Deere operations in Moline, IL.

Shadbolt was chosen to participate in the seminar and was extremely pleased with the trip.

“The experience was really one of a kind. LEAD is intense and they pack as many opportunities as they possibly can into all the seminars,” said Shadbolt.

“One of my favorite parts of the seminar was getting to have sit down conversations with people I would have never had the opportunity to talk to,” she added.

Shadbolt is a 2012 graduate of Gordon-Rushville High School and followed up her education in Sheridan County with a degree from Colorado State University with a degree in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources.

She is halfway through her time in the LEAD Program, which is a two-year endeavor.

The decision to participate in the LEAD Program for Shadbolt was rooted by several very special persons in her life.

Her father, George Shadbolt, was a participant in the LEAD Class 6. Also, her uncle Tom Feller, aunt Helen Feller, and cousin Jordan Feller all have also gone through the program.

“I grew up having high regards for the LEAD Program because of how my dad spoke about it and the relationships he built,” said Shadbolt.

“I personally can attest that I have made new life long friends and had opportunities presented that I would not have had otherwise,” he added.

The Nebraska LEAD Program includes men and women, currently active in production agriculture and agribusiness. 

The Nebraska LEAD Program is a two-year leadership development program under the direction of the Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council and in cooperation with the University of Nebraska’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. 

Program content, essential to leadership focuses on economics, government, human relations, communications, international trade, sociology, education, the arts, social-cultural understandings as well as agriculture.

For more information, or to request an application for Nebraska LEAD 42, contact the Nebraska LEAD Program, 104 AgCom Bldg, PO Box 830940, Lincoln, NE 68583-0940 or telephone 402-472-6810. 

For more information about the selection process or to request an application, visit their website at www.lead.unl.edu 

The application deadline is June 15, 2023.

“We are currently at the halfway mark of the program and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings. Please reach out if you have any questions, I would love to chat,” adds Shadbolt.