During the month of April, the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and Oklahoma Farm Report are spotlighting the 19 Area Stars of Oklahoma FFA, who are among the highest achievers in the organization.
The stars come from the five areas in four categories – Star in Ag Placement, Star in Agriscience, Star in Agribusiness, and Star in Agricultural Production.
This week, we spotlight the four area stars in Agriscience in 2025.
One Star Finalist featured in the coming days from each of the categories will be named the State Star Award Winner during the 99th Oklahoma State FFA Convention, which will take place on May 6th and 7th in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This week, our coverage of the 2025 Oklahoma FFA Star Award Finalists continues with Agriscience competitor Preslee Watley-Kindt of the Stillwater FFA chapter representing the Central Area.
“My project has ranged from trying to grow and meet demand for poultry meat in the United States and across the world,” Watley-Kindt described. “I have found ways to increase growth rates in these chickens to provide more food for consumers. Then, I wanted to move into the safety aspects of it so be sure that when they are consuming this meat, they are not getting sick from harmful bacteria.”
Watley-Kindt’s inspiration stems from her first eighth-grade ag class when she became intrigued by an agriscience fair project involving chickens being conducted in the ag barn. “Once I started, I became so invested,” Watley-Kindt shared. “It became my passion, so I had to just continue.”
Through the challenge of keeping meat birds alive, Watley-Kindt stumbled upon a lighting source that helps the chickens stay calmer to reduce death loss related to stress. Her flock lives in a locked barn to protect them from both disease and predation.
She admitted that she only joined FFA when the club president at the time told her that the club would travel to Florida and deep sea fish. “I’m still waiting for that,” she said. “I joined, and I realized that this is something that you can take with you for the rest of your life.”
She said that her involvement deepened when she realized that the friendships she made in FFA were like none she had ever had before. “I wanted to grow with these people and grow within the agricultural industry,” she shared.
While Watley-Kindt has enjoyed her project thus far, she looks forward to branching out to see what larger impact she can make on the agricultural industry. She plans to seek an Agribusiness degree from Oklahoma State University and then pursue law school to get involved in the politics of agriculture.
“I think it is important to be the voice for everyday people,” she said.
Hear KC’s full conversation with Preslee Watley-Kindt by clicking on the Listen Bar above.
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For more information about the 99th Oklahoma State FFA Convention, click here.
