An Evening in My Front Yard.

          After I finish a delicious diner made by my mom I walk out of my house to the smell of gun powder and fresh rain. The sun feels warm on my bare arms as it beats down from the sky where the clouds have now retreated from. My cousins are talking in the background; I leave them to what they’re doing and find another place in the yard to focus on. I find my dog laying in a freshly made puddle, splashing the water every now and then with his front paws to keep cool. His ears twitch as he listens to everything around him, watching everyone with a careful eye.

            BANG!! Another shot, the dog jumps up with alertness as he searches for danger that’s not there. A cool breeze blows across the yard; it makes the hot sun more tolerable in the hot late afternoon. I look over to my cousin Joey cleaning his new gun after trying it out, he’s smiling happy with what he bought. I glance around the yard as the wind blows the trees and grass from side to side, giving off a light rustling sound. For a few minutes it feels silent after the loud shots of the gun. Then a car passes by, a bird chirps, I sigh; I look around the yard once more and go back inside.  

A Little Bit About Myself

Hello, my name is Whitney Tucker. I’m an 18 year old student at FGCU this year. I live about 45 minutes from campus in North Fort Myers; I grew up there in a small neighborhood, on a white dirt road. Where I live I’m surrounded by several family members, I love my home because it’s quite and everybody knows everybody.

            Earlier this month I graduated from Riverdale High School, I had been there longer than the normal high school student not because I failed anything but because I also when to middle school at Riverdale. Soon it was very much like my home; everyone knew each other. That’s why I choose to go to FGCU, I wanted to go to a school that was bigger than a local college but still close to home. I’m also very interested in the upcoming agriculture projects, I’ve heard about through work. One of things that I’m really proud of in my life is my job; I’m a gardener at Herban Gardens. At the moment my boss and I are working with FGCU and a few other companies to get an agriculture grant, we are also looking forward to having FGCU interns working on the farm in the fall. Work is such a big part of my life that being part of the student body of FGCU was a simple and obvious choice for me.  

            Even though I am very invested in agriculture, I decided to major in business. I found that business is in a way a universal degree, no matter what you do in life a business degree looks good on your record. To me it’s like a plan B for the future, if gardening fails I have something to fall back on.  

            Honestly though I don’t think it will fail, for one people eat plants. Another is my boss Ken Ryan has been gardening for over 30 years and is still going strong. I started working for Ken when I was 13 years old, but I’ve known him since I was 3. I needed a summer job so I asked my dad to ask him if he needed help with his business, since he knew him well. It’s now 6 years later and I’ve been promoted to Farm Manager for the fall. I’m so excited about my new position; I can’t wait to learn more about how the business works. Gardening has shaped my life, and through it I have met amazing people, tasted some of the best foods, and learned wonderful things, such as how to make life from a small seed and watch it grow into something beautiful and helpful to the Earth and ourselves. Now I’m at FGCU where I have come to learn all that I can and use what I learn to better myself as a person.