California Agricultural Leadership Program

Crisp was the cold march morning in Sacramento when class 52 embarked on its journey to the icy heart of Minnesota. The journey there was a long and arduous journey but nothing too great for the fellows to overcome. Upon the winged vessel touching down in Minneapolis, the chilling cold air filled the fellow’s lungs. They looked upon the beautiful now snow covered city. They sure weren’t in California anymore, they were now on a journey of a lifetime.

Special thank you to Carrie Isaacson (51) for providing the broadhead. space!

Day 1 Theme: Know Thy Self

“Spicy” was the flavor of the first speaker’s “special sauce.” Dr. Artika Tyner a law professor at the University of St. Thomas – School of Law and CEO of Planting People Growing Justice, kicked off Class 52’s Minneapolis leg of the CALP National trip. Dr. Tyner is a passionate and engaging educator, author, speaker and advocate for social justice. The class learned more about social justice efforts to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. Specifically, we discussed how teachers and police forces are ill equipped to handle many of the issues they face daily. In addition, current efforts to address the shortfalls were also discussed. One of the potentially impactful initiatives is instilling the concept, “Kinship Networks” where a community is responsible for its children not just the parents – a point of commonality with California’s rural communities. Dr. Tyner also shared some of her own leadership advice with the class, which included: 1) you need to know yourself in order to challenge your own beliefs, biases and ideas, 2) as a leader, you have the luxury – not just the obligation – to find the “in-between” of an issue, and 3) every leader has their own “special sauce!”- K. DeAtley

What a pleasure it was to hear Tim Marx speak. His leadership experiences and beliefs affirmed a lot of the work we have been doing as a class. One example is our weltanschauung, or our view of the world in German. Our weltanschauung is our story, the core of who we are as leaders. Another point that resonated with us was renting your soul or principles when necessary but never selling it and making those choices from a place of authenticity. He stressed the importance hope and gratitude. Leadership, after all is a gift. -A. Gorter

We ended the evening with the cofounders of a non-profit known as the Hope Speaks Project. Hope Speaks provides classes and resources for their communities to have a learning experience and exposure to discussing racial bias and experiences in America. Executive directors Kristen Hara and Meghan Malone shared with us their personal story in relation to racial lens. Their willingness to be vulnerable resonated with the fellows and allowed them to bring forth their experiences to the table. -M. Kahal