Student view: Leading Michigan FFA at MSU

Brent DeSaegher will lead Michigan’s 10,000 student members in the Michigan FFA as an incoming first-year student at Michigan State University. He will major in biosystems engineering.

“I’m excited to be at Michigan State and begin my Spartan years as the new president of the Michigan FFA.”

FFA helps students explore Michigan’s vast agriculture industry through leadership, personal growth and career opportunities. We currently have more than 10,000 members in 134 chapters and are seeing phenomenal growth around the state.

“I’ve been part of FFA for six years, and I know that every single member brings something very special to the table. Each student has their own area to thrive, whether it be working out in the field or engineering solutions to help agriculture modernize and become more efficient.”

One of my goals as president is to help our statewide organization connect individual members to the agriculture and communications skills they need to grow their own version of success.

It’s what I’m looking for at Michigan State myself. I’m a farm kid. I grew up on a 3,000-head dairy farm in Ithaca, Michigan, where I learned the importance of hard work and gained the perseverance to tackle any challenge.

I will study biosystems engineering and when I’m done at MSU, I’ll take what I have learned back to the farm to improve different aspects of agriculture.

In the meantime, I’m exploring this big and beautiful campus and enjoying it a lot. I’m a runner, so Michigan State’s many trails are ideal for me. I’m excited to get started in my classes and meet lots of new people, which is exactly why you pick a place like MSU in the first place.

I want to wish everyone a good academic year and hope our paths cross sometime. Go Green!

About Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Programs offered by the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering are jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Engineering. Since 1906, the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, or BAE, has responded to the changing needs of society by integrating and applying principles of engineering and biology in a systems context. Today, biosystems engineers at MSU solve complex, rapidly changing problems related to food quality and safety, ecosystem protection, homeland security and health protection, biomass utilization and renewable energy development.