AgEd Student Spotlight: Nate Kieffer

Nate Kieffer is a Junior studying Agricultural Education from Reardan, Washington. Nate was exposed to agriculture at an early age; he grew up and continues to go home to his family’s farm and ranch in Rearden. The time spent on the family’s black angus operation is what kick-started his  passion for agriculture. 

In high school he became active in his local FFA Chapter where he ended up serving as vice president. Nate competed at the National FFA Convention in Ag Issues when he was a senior. The positive experiences he had with FFA and his passion for agriculture were the main influence in why he chose Agricultural Education as his degree.

Nate is very involved on campus and academically. He is a member of the Beta Phi chapter of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity; he has served as VNR of Finance. Nate is an American Indian Scholarship Recipient and an American Indian Scholar.  His passion towards FFA is still prevalent, as he is currently a Washington FFA Emerge facilitator; he currently serves as the Public Relations Director for Idaho FFA State Leadership Convention. Nate is working on an undergraduate research project focusing on youth perceptions of agriculture and how that impacts their likelihood to pursue a career in agriculture, assisted by Dr. Kasee Smith. He was awarded an undergraduate research grant to help fund this project. 

Nate states that those pursuing an agricultural education degree at the University of Idaho will have the opportunity to surround themselves with some really cool people and experiences. He also says that “you are not going to get everything right the first time, some lessons are better learned taking a second swing at it.” 

After graduation, Nate wants to move back to Washington and teach agricultural education at a high school level. He is looking forward to being in the classroom and providing positive experiences to his future students like what he had in his high school agricultural classes. 


Written by Klae O'Brien
Fall 2019

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