Medford FFA member plans to combine pharmacy, animal science
Medford FFA’s Ashlin Havumaki introduces her two-week-old lamb Roo to Courtney Spence, outreach and recruitment coordinator for the Minnesota State Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence. Staff photo by Karen M. Jorgensen
For Medford Senior Ashlin Havumaki, a highlight of her FFA career was being awarded the Minnesota State FFA degree at this year’s state convention.
She now is getting ready to head to the next stage of her life as she prepares to attend South Dakota State University (SDSU) next fall where she plans to study pharmacy with a minor in animal science.
Havumaki said she has been involved in FFA since seventh grade. The daughter of Bryson and Christina Havumaki, she lives on a hobby farm, she said, where there are a variety of animals including ducks, chickens, horses, sheep, geese, Guinea hens, quail and one dog.
She was busy at last Friday’s Ag Week barnyard at the Medford school where FFA students had brought an assortment of baby animals to school for the elementary students to meet. Not only is she an officer of the Medford FFA Chapter and helped plan the Ag Week activities, she was also keeping an eye on Roo, the two-week old lamb she has been bottle feeding because it was rejected by its mother.
Much of her involvement with FFA has been with sheep and chickens, she said.
Currently, she said, she has 11 adult Katahdin sheep, 13 baby animals and a flock of 50 chickens.
The unique thing about her sheep, she said, is the Katahdin does not need to be sheared.
She has shown both chickens and sheep at the county fair, she said, but as she is planning to head off to college she is not as involved with showing them as she is with bringing them to the barnyard for the kids to see.
She also is involved in livestock judging.
“I personally enjoy the judging teams,” she said.
During her years with the FFA Chapter she has held a number of local officer positions, and this year is serving as the treasurer. As a member of the officer team, she has been very involved in organizing this year’s Ag Week at the school.
As she heads off to SDSU, she said, her goal is to combine her pharmacy degree and her minor in animal science as a veterinary pharmacist. She added that for 13 years she wanted to become a veterinarian.
She chose SDSU, she said, because the pharmacy program there is six years instead of eight.
She has been getting some early experience in her major field, she said, as she currently works in the pharmacy at Hy-Vee.
Another reason for SDSU, she said, is that her dad has been working mostly online towards a master’s degree at the school.
She said she is looking forward to attending SDSU but when it comes to FFA “I’ll miss it.”