A life in ag leads Kirsten toward new role, opportunities
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Kirsten Jensen, Aurora’s first-ever junior FFA chapter president, spoke in depth about her passion for cattle leading her toward the opportunity of leadership.
Though soft-spoken and petite, Aurora High School junior Kirsten Jensen has no problem lugging around a full-grown heifer or leading her FFA chapter through another successful year.
And she’s doing it as the first-ever junior chapter president in Aurora FFA history.
So where did her story begin?
“I’ve always been on the farm,” Jensen began. “My dad farms and has raised cows for as long as I’ve known, so I just remember riding around in the tractor or combine with him all the time during harvest or planting.”
More directly, she explained that she has early memories of showing cattle with her cousins.
“We really got into that,” she said. “And then he just kind of started buying more cows, so we had a lot more. And then we started calving a lot more obviously. So I got really into that, too.”
She’s not so much in to the “farm stuff,” she added, but she really enjoys the cattle.
“I was always helping with them,” she said. “Then, actually, I had the opportunity to take an AI, artificial insemination, class as a fifth grader.”
The Jensen family had put up a new barn on their land and the class was held there, she recalled, taught by Dennis Comer.
“I learned it there from him,” Jensen said with a laugh. “And I passed. I had to stand on an old mineral tub to be able to reach the cow, but I was still able to do it. So I’ve helped AI cows ever since.”
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