He started his journey as a member of FFA over a decade ago as a young man and now, Grant Norfleet, a young man getting ready to start his sophomore year at the University of Missouri, will perform his swan song at the 2022 Audrain County Youth Fair.

Norfleet started as a Clover Kid with the Busy Beavers 4-H Club “eons ago,” but he had to wait to become an official member to start showing livestock until he was nine years old.

“I’ve been showing for over 10 years now,” Norfleet said. “I joined FFA in high school in 2017 and fell in love with it. I wasn’t sure if it was for me, but with a little push and shove from my dad, I was able to start that and kept showing beef cattle.”

In a week, it all comes to an end.

“It’s bittersweet, but I have to keep reminding myself that it’s definitely not over,” Norfleet said. “I will be on the other side of the ring and not inside the ring, but the fair teaches kids to learn so many skills and so moving onto the next chapter of the fair is exciting.

“I also get to watch my younger brother (Jack) show. He has four years left with him. I am going to exhibit one last time and my time leading a calf around the ring will come to an end.”

He served as a founding member of the Audrain Youth Fair Board team. 

“I got to serve with a bunch of brilliant and passionate individuals,” Norfleet, a 2017 graduate of Mexico High School, said.

Matt Van Schyndel, who has had a long tenure as a supporter and member of various Youth Fair constructs, said that Norfleet is one of a kind.

“This is a child now turned young adult with a vision of success and stopped nothing short of achieving this,” Van Schyndel said. “He has done very well in his speech contests through school and taking that ability to speak fluently and impromptu like and has excelled.  So many times, we see sports athletes get a lot of attention for their hard work and dedication.  Well, this young adult might not have done anything in an arena or football field but his dedication and work through FFA at the local, area and state level has been nothing but exceptional - Through teaching kids what it means to be in Ag to working with his peers and giving them the praise and support needed to go as far as he has in FFA.”

As a MHS senior, Norfleet was elected as a Missouri state officer and represented and served 25,000 members over 353 chapters.

He was the first Bulldog to hold such a role in almost 50 years.

“Mexico and Audrain County has had a long history of agriculture and we’ve got a lot of great FFA chapters and bright young leaders in our community as a whole,” Norfleet said. “Having those private role models who come from similar backgrounds is a really positive step. I looked up to leaders around the county and I think it’s important that youth have those leaders and role models.”

The county has been represented with state officers the past three years, Norfleet said.

“After I was elected, I saw a lot of community members reach out and say thanks for representing our community well,” Norfleet said. “Adult community leaders were excited to see young leadership represent the community and me being a product of this community.

“I thanked them as well, because if it wasn’t for their leadership and having them to be mentored by, I wouldn’t have been able to become as successful as a leader within the community.”

Students have reached out to learn more about what he did to get to that point, so it helped impact the local chapter.

“If you put in the work and take those opportunities beyond the local level, there are more available to you that go beyond school and the classroom,” he said.

He is looking forward to being an emcee this year and be a voice of the youth fair.

“This is the first time we have had an emcee for the Sale of Champions in the Youth Market sale,” he said. “It’s exciting, because it’s one of my favorite events at the fair. It allows students to get closure on their project that they’ve been working for the past year or so and to get recognition from the community.

“I’ve spoken in front of thousands of people before, so I’ll be OK.”

Norfleet will return to Columbia in the fall as he continues his pursuit of a degree in agriculture education and leadership while being focused on communications and leadership track. 

At first, he wanted to work toward policy and putting laws into place to aid the sustainability in the industry.

Lately, doing education and outreach programs through other youth organizations has piqued Norfleet’s interest.

“It will also depend on what the job market looks like when I am in college,” Norfleet said. “It’s definitely something that impacts young leaders and those in the community impacted by the agriculture industry.”