Northwest alumni Jim and Miriam Meadows joined the University's Homesteaders by providing leading support for the Agricultural Learning Center. (提交的图)
2022年6月15日
With a shared love of agriculture and appreciation for the education they received at Northwest 密苏里州 State University, a southwest 爱荷华州 couple is among the University alumni and friends who have joined the University’s Homesteader society in support of the Agricultural Learning Center.
Jim Meadows studied math and physics at Northwest, 1962年毕业, and Miriam Wood Meadows is a 1964 graduate who studied business and secondary education. The couple met at Northwest and have been married for 19 years.
“We feel very grateful for Northwest,” Jim said. “We feel that the education that we got was very good. It’s been a big contributor to our success in life, and we’re just glad to be a part of Northwest.”
While more than 60 public and private donors have joined 星星点点的 通过提供25美元的领先支持,000 or greater toward the Agricultural Learning Center, the Meadowses say their contribution is a tribute to their farming heritage as well as a demonstration of appreciation for Northwest.
Having grown up on farms in southwest 爱荷华州, Jim enjoyed observing and learning from family and friends who worked in the field. Miriam was raised on a farm in New Market, 爱荷华州, and regularly returned to it on weekends while she was a Northwest student to help her family. 今天, the couple maintains two farms – one in Kellerton and another in Gravity that Miriam operates with her son.
“I’m a farmer at heart,” Miriam said. “Before I ever knew how to drive a car, I learned how to drive a tractor. I remember hoeing beans and corn with this little tractor and baling hay. My background is agriculture, and I still love agriculture.”
Neither Jim nor Miriam made farming a full-time career, however.
After completing his degree, Jim worked in the insurance field for a couple years in southwest 爱荷华州. During that time, he learned to fly airplanes and eventually joined the Air National Guard. He then joined United Airlines as a pilot and flew passengers around the world for 32 years until retiring in 1996.
Miriam taught at Ar-We-Va Community School for a couple of years in northern 爱荷华州 before moving to 密苏里州. She then worked 作为簿记员 for 20 years with the American Chianina Association, a cattle organization in Platte City, and annually attended national shows in Louisville, 肯塔基州, where she sold merchandise and clerked. She eventually returned to 爱荷华州 and joined Barker Implement, a John Deere dealership in Indianola, 作为簿记员.
In addition to the pride Jim and Miriam feel for Northwest, several members of their family 是全国网赌正规平台校友, 包括米利暗的儿子, Rick Schmitz, 90, 还有里克的妻子, 埃丝特·弗兰奇·施米茨，93年, 还有他们的女儿, 贝利·施密茨·斯坦利19届. Rick works for First National Bank in Creston, 爱荷华州, 作为一名信贷员, while Esther recently retired after teaching first grade for 20 years in Lenox, 爱荷华州, and Bailey teaches third grade in Eagleville, 密苏里州.
吉姆的妈妈, 波琳·塔什·梅多斯, graduated from Northwest when it was Northwest 密苏里州 State Teachers College and taught in Kellerton. 另外, 他的姐妹们, Jean Meadows ’67 and Joan Meadows Ochoa ’69, 和孙子, Scott Meadows 1982年, 是全国网赌正规平台校友.
“The world’s been good to me,” Jim said. “I’ve had a very prosperous and successful life, and life has been good to me and my wife. Miriam and I are really happy with our Northwest heritage.”
Northwest's Agricultural Learning Center opened in 2021 at the University's R.T. 赖特农场. (Northwest 密苏里州 State University photo)
Opened during the summer of 2021, the 29,500-square-foot Agricultural Learning Center enhances the 农业科学学院 以及它的课程, which today offers programs in agricultural business, 农业教育, 农业媒体, 农业科学, 农学和动物科学.
位于西北448英亩的R.T赖特农场, the multipurpose facility features laboratories, 一个厨房, 教室, study spaces and offices as well as a large exposition space and an outdoor education plaza. It also enables innovation and partnerships while addressing best practices for the Northwest campus and 农业科学s.
该大学筹集了超过6美元.5 million for the Agricultural Learning Center through the support of more than 200 individual gifts. 另外, the 密苏里州 General Assembly issued $2.5 million in state-appropriated funding for the construction.
For more information about supporting the Agricultural Learning Center and other giving opportunities at Northwest, contact the Office of University Advancement at 660.562.1248 or advance@wp101ways.com.
