It’s August. That
means two things in Kentucky that are near and dear to me: the Kentucky State
Fair and the start of UK’s fall semester.
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| The KY State Fair Bears |
I’ve been going to the Kentucky State Fair since I was a
child. I remember the smell of the food
stands, the obligatory picture with Fair and Faira Bear (which I loved), riding
a few rides, walking through the livestock barns to visit people we knew, and
going to 4-H Cloverville to check out how my 4-H projects did. The Kentucky State Fair has been in business
since 1902 and is one of the best (well….best in my opinion) fairs in the
country. Being a 4-H member, it was a pilgrimage
making the trip from Monroe County to Louisville to see how my entomology
project had done, how was our tobacco entry compared to others across the
state, or if my brother’s woodworking project got a blue ribbon. We loved our time in Cloverville, but the
fair was always about celebrating this great state: our food, our culture and
heritage, our talents, and for a young 4-H or FFA member, our dreams. The fair is a great melting pot for our
diverse state. No matter if you are from
Paintsville or Princeton, Tompkinsville or Covington (this was a really hard
decision to pick four city names), we are all proud citizens of the
Commonwealth of Kentucky for the next few weeks- and beyond. The fair runs August 16-26 and I hope you
have plans to attend. Check out their website to plan your visit and see the wonders that are the State Fair. I’ll be there with
my Kentucky bells on.
August also means that it’s time for classes to begin at the
University of Kentucky, and other colleges, too. One of my favorite sounds is the Wildcat
marching band practicing the UK Fight Song across campus on Stoll Field. On a good day, like yesterday, I could hear
it when I went home from work. Classes
begin here August 22nd and campus is abuzz with students here for
sorority recruitment, RA training, and now K-Week. If you don’t know what K-Week is, do yourself
a favor and check out their website. The
basic gist of this week is that it is the OFFICIAL orientation to being a
Wildcat wrapped into over 200 events and sets the stage for a truly great
year. There’s free food for days. One student told me that if you paid for food
during K-Week, you weren’t doing something right- and I totally agree. We are having New Student Orientation on
Tuesday, August 21 at 1:30 PM in Seay Auditorium of the Ag North Building. If you are one of our incoming students into
the College and reading this, you will want to be there. You can meet faculty and staff, students and
even the Dean. With the start of classes
also means football season and the excitement of the fall semester.
We’ll leave all of that excitement for another post. Keep on rocking in the free world.....
- Jason Headrick
Jason Headrick is the director of student relations in the UK College of Agriculture. He works with prospective students & families with admissions and the college selection process. His email address is jason.headrick@uky.edu.
