FHSU Department of Agriculture

09/07/2026

09/01/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Kami Whipple FHSU junior studying Agricultural Communications and Agricultural Business, on being selected as a 2026-2027 Imagining America / Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Fellow! This prestigious national fellowship recognizes students who use photography and digital media to tell meaningful stories, build connections, and strengthen communities. Congrats on this achievement, Kami!

08/31/2026

Join us Tuesday, September 1st at the Frontier Park at shelter #9 for the annual Welcome Back Ag Dept picnic from 6pm-8pm!

08/26/2026

Join us on Thursday September 3rd for our first meeting of the semester! We would love to have you there!

05/13/2026

It's always nice to see an Ag Department Student being recognized!

Heart of a Tiger
By President Tisa Mason
Just three hours west of Hays, across the state line in the small town of Kit Carson, Colorado, everyone knows the name Mitchek. For more than one hundred years, the family has worked the High Plains. Today, two twenty-one-year-old twins—including Fort Hays State’s own Alex Mitchek—are making sure that name stays strong. Their story is one of great sadness, but also of the kind of hope, grit, and hard work that every Tiger can admire.

Life changed forever for the brothers during their senior year of high school in 2022. In September, their mother, Maria, passed away from cancer. Just four months later, in January, their father, Ervin, passed away from the same disease. In a single school year, Alex and Paul lost both of their parents.

It would have been easy to give up. They were only eighteen years old. But Alex shows us what resilience really means. Instead of walking away from the family farm, he leaned into his community and his future.

Now a junior majoring in Agricultural Business with a certificate in Finance, Alex is gaining the tools to see the "big picture" and grow the family business. While his twin brother, Paul, manages the daily work on the farm, Alex is the "eyes and ears" out in the world, looking for new opportunities.

Read more about Alex's story: https://hubs.ly/Q04fTwTl0

05/08/2026

Beef production students after a great interactive session learning about the beef industry and the beef checkoff with Davis Gidney with the national Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Scott Stebner and Heather Donly with the Kansas Beef Council, and producers who currently serve on the Beef Board. We really appreciated the time they all took to spend with us and the information they shared!

05/07/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Iryna McDonald on receiving tenure. Your hard work and dedication to FHSU and students is not unnoticed! Thank you for being a great mentor, instructor, and person!

05/07/2026

We are proud to recognise two of our outstanding students, Alexis Trejo(Torch Award Finalist) and Kiana Martin (Torch Award Nominee). Please join us in congratulating Alexis ( pictured here) and celebrating both students for their hard work, dedication, and achievements. We are so proud of our Tigers!

05/06/2026

Dr. Alan Xu visited Hays Middle School and talked about the FHSU Ag Department. Thank you to Hays Middle School for allowing FHSU Agriculture Department to share knowledge about the industry and campus with students!

05/04/2026

Three hats in one day: classroom teacher, chicken wrangler, and welding shop co-coordinator.

Student teacher Kaitlyn McMullin is putting in the work at Clearwater Intermediate, Middle, and High School alongside her cooperating teacher, Mrs. Lauren VanAllen. From leading lessons in the classroom to taking students and their chicks outside to explore the natural environment to helping run the welding shop, Kaitlyn is showing exactly what ag education is all about.

Keep it up, Kaitlyn! The future of this profession is bright.