TO dig into the topic of agriculture, Heywood and District Secondary College (HDSC) student Jacob Sanderson attended the three-day program Defying the Drift.  

Jacob was sponsored by Portland Rotary Club to travel to Longerenong College, 15 minute drive east of Horsham, for the program, which supports young people pursuing a career in agriculture.

He attended during the first week of school holidays and stayed for two nights, joined by 20 other year 10 and 11 students from across Victoria.

Jacob and his family live in Myamyn on a hobby farm where he has learnt to look after animals and land, putting agriculture near the top of his interests.

He said he was refreshed to see other people his age interested in farming.

“It was focused around developing personal skills, a lot about public speaking and becoming leaders,” he said.

“On the very first day we were introduced to a buddy, and at dinner that night in the cafeteria, we had to introduce each other to the whole class.

“The next evening, it was a formal event, and we had to interview someone from our table we've never met before in our life.

“Then the next day, which is the last day we had to share ‘you and your view,’ so we had to write a speech two to three minutes long and read it out in front of our peers.

The group toured a ranged of rural enterprises such as Rethus Broadacre Farm and Grains Innovation Park and spoke with agriculture role models.

“On the second day, we visited local businesses.

“We then had a few guest speakers, who told us about agriculture as a career.

“Then we had another conversation as a class about the next steps we could potentially take.”

Jacob has been taking VCE classes this year and will be taking on a school-based apprenticeship and traineeship in certificate III in Agriculture through Rural Industry Skill Training next year.

“I like the idea of working on the land and particularly enjoy sheering as a career, that can really set me up in life.”