Ag Students of Today

Ag Ambassador Stephanie Goode Shares ‘Typical Day’ With Us

Up early. Class at 8:00. Student Council meeting. Another class. Meet with fellow students. Meet with professor. Squeeze in some homework. Another class. Grab some lunch. Another meeting. Library, computer, cell phone, more homework. And oh yes, work at the part-time job.

Welcome to the world of today’s agriculture student — welcome to a typical day in the life of Stephanie Goode, University of Kentucky junior majoring in agricultural education. “My day is pretty jam packed,” said Goode, who credits her high school affiliation with the Institute for Future Agriculture Leaders (IFAL) for introducing her to UK’s ag program. “I hadn’t really thought about coming to IFAL at UK, but just by chance I did and I fell in love with the campus,” she said.

With help from her parents, loans, and a part-time job, Goode is earning her education in the truest sense of the word. Since starting at UK she has worked one or two jobs per semester, including one in the Department of Agricultural Economics.

“Through that job and others I’ve learned time-management skills, which play a big part in today’s world,” she said.
She also received a scholarship from the College of Agriculture. “The College has been very supportive,” she said.
Goode usually takes between 15 and 17 credit hours per semester. Her classes typically start each day at either 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. and run until noon. After class she goes to work at a local tanning business, where she puts in 20 to 30 hours a week. Typically, she will have one or two meetings a week with either the Agriculture Ambassadors group (representatives made up of the College’s best students) or CERES, the women’s ag fraternity.
And where does the energy come from to maintain such a demanding schedule?

“I try to go to the gym at least two or three times a week,” said Goode. “I also try to eat healthy foods and avoid junkfood.” Goode represents, in many ways, the ag student of the new millennium — bright, energetic, and able to balance the incredibly complex time demands on today’s student. But despite the hectic pace brought about by modern technology and lifestyles, she says one thing about being a College of Agriculture student probably hasn’t changed much from yesteryear.

Stephanie Goode, taking advantage of today’s technology at W.T.Young Library.

“The friends I’ve made in clubs and organizations, the activities I’m involved with, and the bonds and connections I’ve made with wonderful faculty and staff have made my education here a rich and rewarding experience, and that’s probably the best thing about being a student here,” she said.
Some “Facts of Life”
for Today’s Student

• almost half the students in the College of Agriculture are female
• more than 70% of today’s UK undergraduate students are under age 25
• tuition costs for residents is $3,735 a year; non-residents pay $10,275
• on-campus room and board costs about $4,000 a year; a meal card costs $690 per semester
• off-campus rent for a two-bedroom unfurnished apartment, excluding utilities, is about $680 per month; the average electric bill is $32 a month; average gas bill is $50
• the government-set minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, which is about what most students earn in part-time jobs

Yesterday’s Student
Submitted by Bill Moody

• There were very few women in the College of Agriculture. However, the men met a lot of women through the Home Economics Department, which was part of the College of Agriculture at that time.

• Most students didn’t have cars. Their modes of transportation included bus, train, walking, and hitch hiking. To get home on the weekends, Bill Moody used to hitch hike from Lexington to Louisville (which usually meant at least three or four rides with different people). On the return trip he took the bus, a ride of over three hours.

• There were no cell phones, pocket calculators (you knew who the engineers were because they always carried a slide rule with them), computers, or microwave ovens. Books were carried in students’ arms instead of in bulging backpacks.

• Tuition per semester ranged from $150-$200, with housing rental per month running between $20 and $40 (which included utilities).

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Remember When?

You’ve read what some of our alumni and faculty had to say about their lives as students in the 1940s and 1950s. Can you top their stories? We’d like you to reach back into the recesses of your memory and recall those fun and interesting facts about your days in the College of Agriculture, whether they were fifteen years or fifty years ago. Responses will be considered for possible inclusion in a future Ambassador issue of the magazine. Here are a few questions and topics to get you started.

How much were tuition and books when you were in school? How did you pay for them? Did you have money saved up, receive scholarship money, or have help from Mom and Dad?
Where did you live, on campus or in off-campus housing? Who did you room with? Tell us about your adventures with your roommates.

We want to hear about your jobs — the best, the worst, the hardest, most unusual, most fun, most boring, worst paying. How many hours a week did you work? What did you learn from your on-the-job experiences? How did you make ends meet?

We also want to know what you did for fun. Did you belong to student clubs, were you active in College social events, and did you go to football and basketball games? Or maybe you were good at pulling pranks.
Photos as well as comments are welcome. Please submit materials by mail or e-mail to the address for the ag magazine editor on page 1 of this magazine. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!