Hot News

7.22.2008

By NANCY L. SMITH
AFP Correspondent

Harrington, Del. — “I’m a very talkative, people person,” said an animated Michelle Johnson, 19, an intern for the Delaware Soybean Board, during a conversation at the Delaware State Fair.
“In my job, I do a lot of marketing. I travel to as many events as I can … and talk to everyone about the benefits of soy biodiesel or whatever the group may be interested in. I incorporate soy into that,” Johnson said.
Hiring an intern was the brainchild of Jeff Allen of Bridgeville, Del., former chairman of the DSB. Johnson was recommended for the position by Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse, who became acquainted with her because both show paint horses and have the same trainer.
Johnson, a rising sophomore at West Virginia University, graduated second in her class from Lake Forest High School in Felton, Del.
At WVU, she is majoring in speech language pathology and audiology with plans to pursue a Master’s degree following graduation.
She completed her first year in college with a 4.0 grade point average.
A poised and talented young woman, Johnson gets nothing but praise from her boss, Susanne Zilberfarb, DSB executive director.
“She’s ready to take on any challenge that I throw at her. She’s the perfect person for the job,” Zilberfarb said.
Johnson, an only child, credits her family with much of her success.
“Without my family, I wouldn’t have anything,” she said. But her positive outlook, commitment and high energy level have to get some of the credit.
The busy Johnson is an athlete, who excelled at field hockey in high school and still pursues the sport, playing in an adult league in Dover twice a week.
“It keeps me in shape,” Johnson said.
She has shown her 8-year-old paint horse, Ace, throughout the East Coast for several years in showmanship, English, Western and trail competitions, although college now forces her to forego most competitions.
She also enjoys riding Bea, her 23-year-old quarter horse.
Johnson’s family raises standardbred race horses on the family farm, Cain-View Farms of Harrington, where she works with the foals, readying them to be weaned and preparing them to go to the trainer.
She has time in the driver’s seat as well, having raced ponies at harness racing youth league camp.
Her family also raises replacement heifers and she has shown dairy cattle for many years.
“I love it, absolutely love it,” she said. She is especially proud of Candy, her “Excellent 91” cow, that she raised from a calf and shown as a heifer and a cow.
“She’s my first “good” cow,” Johnson said. “She’s humongous. She’s probably the biggest cow I’ve ever seen.”
Johnson, who describes herself as “very scheduled, very organized,” said she “writes absolutely everything down.”
Her early successes in agriculture, athletics and academics are combined with a strong positive outlook.
“I love school and I love the experience of becoming independent,” she said.