Where Are They Now? | March 2025 | By Samantha Henderson

Meet Anna Golightly,

Former Sky View FFA member who, didn’t plan to join FFA, but by joining, she found her passion and career!

Anna joined FFA because she had a schedule change that opened up a free hour, so she decided to take a Natural Resources class which automatically enrolled her in FFA. With a little nudge from her advisors, she competed in Agronomy and received 3rd High Individual. “After I got that, I was hooked, and I became a very active member of my chapter.” Anna went on to compete in six different CDEs and served as her chapter Parliamentarian her senior year.

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Anna competed in the Utah Envirothon her sophomore year of high school and her team’s coach encouraged her to look into the Range CDE because he thought it might be something she would enjoy. “Well, he was right, I loved it!”

Anna went on to compete in the Range CDE where her team placed in the Top 5 in the state of Utah which meant they got to attend the Western National Rangeland CDE.

Anna continued to do Envirothon through the rest of High School and was able to attend the Utah Range Camp. She spent that week at camp learning about range related topics and going through the Range CDE test. Through the camp, Anna was nominated and able attend the Society for Range Managements High School Youth Forum where she competed among 23 other students from the United States and Canada. For the contest, Anna had to create a 10-minute presentation on a Range topic.

Anna says, “Going to the Youth Forum and competing in Envirothon helped me become better at public speaking and interacting with people from different backgrounds. It also helped create relationships with the other students that I still have today.”

After high school, Anna attended Utah State University where she received her degree in Rangeland Management and Ecology with a minor in Fisheries Science. During a summer at college, Anna worked as a Range Technician on the Forest Service districts where she currently works now. As a technician she was “able to see her degree in action.”

Anna works for the U.S. Forest Service on the Soda Springs and Montpelier Ranger Districts as a Rangeland Management Specialist. “I cover anything that pertains to livestock grazing and noxious weed treatments. I co-manage 29 cattle allotments and 58 sheep allotments, and I work with just over 100 grazing permittees between both districts. I really enjoy working with my grazing permittees and helping them steward the land. I also really enjoy getting to ride horses as part of my job and spending my time in the mountains.”

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Anna says, that “FFA is the whole reason that I got into range. Without FFA I wouldn’t be doing a job that I love now.”

Anna would tell anyone thinking about joining FFA “to just do it.”

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