OFI 1952: A Vision Bigger Than Herself | FFA SAE Edition | Morelia Vieyra Santana | Madera High School FFA

Morelia Vieyra Santana is a 2023 National Proficiency Winner in the category of Equine Science.  She is also a previous guest on the Off-Farm Income Podcast, appearing when she was a sophomore in high school in 2021. When I first interviewed Morelia, I was taken with how bold she was in her role at her families horse boarding, training and events business in Madera, California.  Not only was she working steadily in the business, but she was taking ownership of more than her assigned role and suggesting changes that she believed would improve their operation. Knowing what I knew from our first meeting, it should have been no surprise to learn that she was a proficiency winner.  It should have also been no surprise to learn that she no longer considered her role just as a member of her family and her families business.  Today, she sees her role as representing her Mexican Heritage and that style of horsemanship as an ambassador to the greater agriculture community in the Central Valley of California. Morelia is attending Fresno State University and studying agriculture business.  She plans on using what she learns in college to improve the business side of her families business.  At the same time, she wants to spread Mexican Horse Dancing to an even wider group of people and audience.  She sees it as her role to make this part of her heritage more pervasive and known to a much larger audience than it currently enjoys.