ENTERPRISE, Ore. — Mary Thiel learned a thing or two from her trip “Down Under” in January. In particular, she learned the aspect of agriculture she wants to pursue.

“I have that interest in international agriculture and I wanted to see where my strengths are,” she said after a Jan. 3-15 trip to Australia.

As state sentinel for the Oregon FFA, she had the opportunity to tour southeastern Australia with 74 current and former state officers from around the U.S.

“Under the International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (we) develop an awareness of global agriculture and enhance the cultural competency of travelers,” Thiel said.

The Australia trip and her current work around Oregon draws her closer to fellow FFA members. “It also gives me a chance to network with other FFA members,” she said.

During the remainder of the FFA year — which ends in late March with the state convention in Redmond — she and the other state officers will travel to schools around the state and speak, sharing what they’ve learned in their time in FFA and on their trip to Australia.

She said they’re in a classroom every day teaching about leadership and character development.

During National FFA Week, Feb. 17-24, state officers have been taking part in industry tours.

Sharing Australia

Thiel said that while in Australia, the FFA group visited the states of Victoria and New South Wales.

“We went around the southeastern tip of Australia,” Thiel said. “We started in Sydney and ended in Melbourne.”

FFA International Leadership Seminar for State Officers tour participants

Taking part from Oregon were:

Jael Cruikshank, Ryan Mizee, Kylie Temple and Mary Thiel.

From Washington were:

Nathan Heay, Kyia Hunter-Kanoff and Andrew Schulz

From Idaho were:

Hallye Duckett, Delainee Ellsworth, Josiah Knapp, Kamille Mirkin and Clayton Moore

They learned how Australia is part of the  United Kingdom and visited Parliament House in Canberra, the capital. They also met with the agricultural attache based at the U.S. Embassy, and representatives of the National Farmers Federation and the Australian Rural Leadership Program.

They also saw the Sydney Opera House and toured other cultural centers.

The highlight was visiting farms, including a sheep ranch, a farm that raises race horses, a wheat farm, a cattle ranch, a dairy and a rice farm.

“I’d never seen a rice paddy before,” she said. “There was a lot of diversity in the events we participated in.”

Thiel also experienced a side of Australia that’s not unlike the Western U.S.

“There are a lot of similarities to Old West America but it’s an old Australia vibe,” she said. “They call it an ‘old bush’ aesthetic.”

Future plans 

Thiel, a Lostine native who graduated from Joseph Charter School in 2023, is now on her “gap” year so she can complete her state FFA commitment.

She will attend either Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, or Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

She has yet to decide which university she will attend.

“I’m still deciding which one will give me the right major,” she said. “I’m super-passionate about farmers in different countries and what they’re doing.”