St. Tammany News

Magee receives Master Gardener scholarship

As she heads off to college, Jill Magee said the one thing she has learned through her years in 4-H and Future Farmers of America is "you get out of something when you put into it."

A. J. Bailey, president of Master Gardeners of St. Tammany, presents Jill Magee with a $1,000 check written out to Southeastern Louisiana University. (Staff Photo by Suzanne Le Breton)

Magee, 18, graduated Wednesday evening from Covington High School, but that morning she was at the LSU AgCenter St. Tammany Parish office accepting a $1,000 scholarship.

She said she will take that one lesson, among others she has received through the years with her.

The money Magee received Wednesday will go toward Magee's education as she plans to attend Southeastern Louisiana University in the fall to study nutrition.

Magee said when she sat down to decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life, she knew she wanted to go into the medical field.

"But I don't like blood," she said with a giggle.

She decided on nutrition because it is a field where she can help people to live healthier lives.

Magee said it bothers her when she watches TV or looks in a magazine and she sees all of the girls trying to be so thin.

"I want to help people to know they don't have to be that thin to be healthy," she said. "I want to educate people that there are ways to take care of yourself without starving yourself."

Every year the Master Gardeners of St. Tammany give out a scholarship, named after Bobby Fletcher, to a St. Tammany Parish graduating senior.

The money is raised at the group's annual Northshore Plant Show, which was held recently at the St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds.

Brenda Caston, chair of the scholarship selection committee, said Magee was chosen this year because her

application indicated she had put a lot of thought in planning her future and college major, and she has shown a lot of dedication to her to the extensive list of extracurricular activites she participated in during her school career.

Magee started showing pigs when she was in the fourth grade. She said her father, Jeff Magee, showed livestock when he was a child and she thought it might be a good thing for them to do together.

Her mother, Melanie Magee, said it turned out to be a very good bonding opportunity for her daughter and husband as well as the whole family.

After showing pigs for a couple of years, Magee started showing commercial heffers, and then added steers.

She would get the animals in the spring and begin showing them in the fall, but she said it is an around-the-year job, which includes feeding them twice a day.

When asked about the early morning feedings before school, Magee said "I sleep as late as possible," she said, but added she never complained about having to feed the animals before or after school.

"I knew I had no choice but to feed them," she said, adding again, "You get out of something what you put into it."

She said she learned a good deal of responsibility from showing the animals.

"I learned you can't expect to show up one day and have everything handed to you," she said.

Magee said the first year she made it to the state show, she won grand champion. In her senior year, when she went to the state show, she won the same award again.

"I think its special that I won grand champion the first time and the last time," she said, adding that it made for a fitting ending.

In all her years of showing she said the hardest thing was the size of the animals, being of petite stature herself.

"You get drug around a little," she said with another giggle.

Unsure with what she will do with her livestock now that she is going to college, Magee is sure of one thing. When she is grown and has children of her own, if they want to raise livestock she will help them like her father helped her.

Her younger sister, Natalie, is already showing cattle, and she said she cannot wait until she gets to fourth grade and can join

4-H.

In addition to showing livestock, Magee was also involved in her school, serving as a class officer and in the Student Government Association. She was also a member of the National Honor Society and graduated with a 3.9 grade point average.