Marlene Romero, Agriculture Education

Marlene Romero, a sophomore in agriculture education, had her first experience with California State University, Chico as a newly elected California Future Farmers of America (FFA) state officer. When she visited CSU, Chico as a state officer, she had recently been accepted to attend as a student.

CSU, Chico College of Agriculture holds facilitated state officer training for newly elected officers to help them prepare for the tasks ahead of them. After attending the training, Romero knew she had made the right choice to attend CSU, Chico.

“During the training I had the opportunity to meet professors who were genuinely interested in the students and gave me an at-home feeling,” Romero said.

That feeling keeps Romero going and proud of her choice to come to CSU, Chico.

“The College of Agriculture has a strong family atmosphere,” Romero said. “Students, faculty, and staff genuinely care about each other, which makes being five hours away from home a lot easier.”

Romero was elected as California FFA secretary in 2008 as a graduating senior from Soledad High School in Soledad, Calif. Elected officers have to defer their enrollment in college for a year to travel around the state. The team of state officers travels the state hosting chapter officer leadership conferences, sectional officer leadership conferences, regional officer leadership conferences, and an advanced leadership academy for FFA members.

Since starting classes at CSU, Chico, Romero has yet to slow down from the busy life of being a state FFA officer. She is currently a facilitator for Freshman Leadership Opportunity (FLO), involved in Alpha Tau Alpha (ATA), a member of the FFA Field Day leadership team, and helps to organize FFA regional and state officer training. Romero is also employed as agriculture education professor Brad Dodson’s student assistant.

“Having the opportunity to be a state officer prepared me for the busy life of being in college,” Romero said. “We were always on the go, and having that experience prior to college set me up to be a successful student.”

As a facilitator for FLO, Romero serves as a mentor for a group of freshmen. She organizes group meetings and coordinates events for the students to participate in.

ATA is a national professional honorary agricultural education organization that is devoted to helping and guiding those who plan to become agriculture educators. As a member, Romero helps the club coordinate and execute events whenever she has the opportunity.

The FFA Field Day is such a large event that a student leadership team is constructed to plan and implement the busy day. Romero was selected along with 25 other students for the leadership team. The team is broken down into committees, and Romero served on the registration committee.

Romero also works with Dodson to help coordinate workshops on self discovery and prepare regional and state officer candidates for interviews for office positions. Romero boasted, “Four of six of the state FFA officers elected for last year attended our training program.”

As Dodson’s student assistant, Romero helps with planning and implementing the CSU, Chico Invitational Parliamentary Procedure Contest, setting up PowerPoint presentations for workshops Dodson is conducting, and filing and organizing the student assistant office.

Although her parents previously worked as farm laborers around Soledad, Romero didn’t really get involved with agriculture until high school. Following in her brother’s footsteps, Romero joined FFA, but she branched off in a different direction than her brother. Romero became passionate for leadership in agriculture, which led her to running for state office in FFA and majoring in agriculture education in college. In FFA, she gained experience and passion for agriculture by raising market hogs for her county fair.

After graduation from CSU, Chico, Romero plans to teach agriculture near Soledad and work on a master’s degree in agriculture education. After receiving her master’s, she wants to further her education in a PhD program. Her goal is to stay involved in agriculture leadership and educate students who also want to teach agriculture.