Once a student, Vice President Roberts is now the teacher

By LAURA COLE

The Land Staff Writer

“It’s always a good idea to keep an open mind,” John Roberts said as he recalled both his own ag journey and shared advice for the next generation of students. Roberts grew up raising pigs in west central Minnesota, though stated he did not have plans to make it his own future career. “Every ninth grader was required to take an ag class,” Roberts said, which led him to join FFA. He was an officer with the Battle Lake, Minn. chapter for three years, and served as regional vice president his junior year of high school and regional president his senior year. He held the state officer role of vice president his freshman year of college.

Coming from Otter Tail County, Roberts’ home chapter was the farthest distance away from any of the other members’ chapters. However, he was already acquainted with three of the other officers.

“Three of us had served as region presidents together,” Roberts said, referring to Leah Addington and Natasha Mortenson. He also had met Pete Lammers at Greenhand Camp.

Originally planning to focus on electrical engineering, Roberts attended North Dakota State University for one semester before transferring to the University of Minnesota campuses of Crookston, and later the Twin Cities, to major in ag education.

After graduating, Roberts taught for four years in the Glencoe-Silver Lake school district before accepting a position with Holdingford High School where he continues to teach ag classes and serves as the FFA advisor.

Reflecting on his time as state officer, Roberts shared he was given the opportunity to do and see things he might not have otherwise coming from a school with an average class size of 35 students. Roberts was able to travel to Washington D.C. for a week to attend the State Presidents’ Conference with Addington and was also a delegate at the Kansas City national convention. Another highlight was “zigging and zagging” through the northeastern region of the state for the business tour, traveling in the middle of the Iron Range and even learning about the existence of Cherry, Minn. — an unincorporated community in St. Louis County.