Leigh Alum Boone McAfee Speaks to LHS Students
Boone McAfee became the eighth speaker to speak to the Leigh High School sophomore Careers class earlier this month as part of the “Successful Leigh-ders” program. As part of the “Successful Leigh-ders project, McAfee is one of 16 Leigh High School graduates speaking to students this semester on various career opportunitites.
There are 16 different career clusters designated by the state of Nebraska, and McAfee spoke on the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources cluster. He joined previous speakers Kamin (Hillen) Held, Austin Bruhn, Ryan Kumpf, Mike and Ty McMullin, Lauren (Settje) Stoklasa, Lindsay McCutcheon, and Cody Hillen.
Mr. Tyser’s fourth period junior ag class, as well as other juniors and seniors interested in careers in agriculture were in attendance to listen to McAfee’s presentation as well.
Boone graduated from Leigh High School in 2009 and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Ag Economics from UNL. He stressed to students the importance of being involved in activities in both high school and college to network and make possible career connections.
“Try a lot of things and be open-minded in school,” McAfee said. “And always treat people the right way. You never know when you will make that one connection or impress that one person who will be crucial to your future job success. People remember the impression you leave on them.”
While at the university, McAfee was involved in collegiate FFA, Ag Economics club, and the National Agri-Marketing Association. He also worked as a teacher’s research assistant and completed a study abroad program in Argentina.
In addition to being involved, McAfee, like other speakers this semester, stressed the importance of job shadowing and interning to find out what you like and don’t like in the career field. McAfee interned at Dow AgroSciences and Farm Credit Services of America.
“It’s important to go out and try lots of new things. But you have to create these opportunities for yourself. They don’t just happen,” McAfee told students of his volunteer internships.
After college McAfee worked on the family farm and worked as a crop insurance analyst before obtaining his current position as the Director of Market Development and Research for the Nebraska Corn Board in Lincoln.
With this position, McAfee promotes the corn industry throughout the state. He manages corn research projects, engages with outside organizations to help fund research the corn board thinks is vital to the industry, and even meets with various corn buyers across the state and in other countries.
Sophomore Garrett Schroeder said he appreciated how McAfee spent a lot of time discussing many different possible career opportunities within the ag industry.
“I think he helped us see how many possibilities there are and that working in agriculture can mean a lot of different things,” Schroeder said.
“Like with all of our speakers,” Mrs. Justine Fischer said, “Boone was extremely informative and opened students’ minds to different career paths they might not have known existed. We are fortunate that he was able to come speak.”