Bailey Morrell, senior in agriculture studies, was elected as Students of Agronomy, Soils and Environmental Sciences’ (SASES) 2014 president.

There are a lot of changes with the start of a new year. Many clubs and organizations, including SASES have gone through an election process.

According to SASES’ website, it is “an affiliation of agronomy, crops, soils, plant science or environmental science clubs and their undergraduate student members from colleges and universities throughout North America.”

Morrell considers herself “farm cultured.” She did not grow up on a farm, but her grandparents owned a small row crop and cattle operation. She grew up knowing she wanted to stay in agriculture.

As a sophomore, Morrell joined the Agronomy Club in hopes of getting involved on campus. In 2012, the club was beginning to plan for the SASES regional meeting.

Iowa State had applied to host the meeting Morrell’s sophomore year. After the regional meeting, Morrell went to Cincinnati for the national meeting to get involved on a higher level. She was voted to be the SASES corresponding secretary.

While in office, Morrell knew she wanted to broaden her leadership skills and wanted to try for another office position. It is a SASES policy that once a duty is served, you cannot hold that office again. Because of this, Morrell tried for the president position, and with support from the networks she had, she became the 2014 SASES president.

Melissa Stolt, Agronomy Club adviser, said, “Bailey is a very friendly, energetic, organized and highly motivated student within the Agronomy Club. All of these qualities make her a great president for SASES. I look forward to her success in this position.”

Morrell looks forward to the networking that will happen during the regional and national meetings. There are three societies: American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America. The regional meetings are composed of just students and the national meetings are where it brings the students and professionals together.

Morrell has been through a long journey to get where she is now. She began internships as a freshman and has had multiple ones since. A few of the internships included Pioneer, Farmers Co-op and Iowa Farm Bureau.

The internships have helped her discover what she enjoys, and also helped her decide what she wanted to study. 

Also over the years, Morrell has been involved in not only SASES, but other clubs, as well. Morrell has been involved in the Agronomy Club, ISU Iowa Corn Growers Association and Veishea. Participating in various clubs have helped prepare Morrell for her new position as president.

Morrell is not sure what she wants to do after graduation, but says she is planning to graduate in December of 2014. Morrell wants to take a few more classes of interest to her, and she plans to be flexible and apply for more internships.