FITHIAN — Others her age are eagerly looking forward to starting college this fall, but an Oakwood High School valedictorian has put off her college plans to pursue a state leadership position serving a longtime passion.

Amie Burke of Fithian had planned to attend Lake Land College this fall, but when she was elected president of the Illinois Association FFA in June, her plans changed a bit.

She’s spent the summer traveling throughout Illinois and has been to Washington, D.C. She’ll attend the international leadership seminar for state officers in January in China.

Burke and other state FFA officers will travel more than 20,000 miles during their tenure as they visit FFA chapters around the state, conduct workshops and meetings for the FFA, attend conferences and promote agricultural education.

“We would like to continue (to increase) the membership … for the state of Illinois and just reach out to the members and represent the FFA for others who don’t know what our organization and the ag industry is all about,” Burke, 18, said.

Burke is getting a head start on what she’d like to study in college — ag education. She hasn’t decided where she’ll complete her bachelor’s degree.

In addition to education, she’s interested in agricultural leadership, which could lead to training CEOs of agricultural companies like Monsanto or Growmark.

Her career, however, began with a love of farming here in Illinois.

Burke raised llamas and worked at a St. Joseph nursery for her supervised agricultural experience, or SAE, in high school.

Burke began in FFA with her freshman year as a “green hand,” the term given to any first-year FFA member.

The SAE program allows hands-on applications of what members learn in school. She kept her llamas at her grandparents’ farm, a mile up the road from her parents’ house.

Llamas can be valuable for their wool, primarily the wool market in Sweden. But here in the American Midwest, they’re useful for other reasons.

Llamas are good cattle herd watchdogs.

“We kept ours because we had a coyote problem,” she explained.

Her llamas have been sold because she’s not around Vermilion County as often these days.

Her aim as state president is to spread the word about the FFA and the ag industry’s relevance in the world. She represents the state of Illinois to the country’s other chapters in all 49 other states and Porto Rico.

Agriculture is a mostly misunderstood industry, she said. But she’d like to change that.

“I like it because it incorporates so many different (industrial concentrations),” she said. “From production to biotechnology to genetics — any interest you have in life fits in somewhere in the industry.”

After she “retires” as state president, she’ll begin college in fall 2010.

“It means a great deal to me to have the members elect me to this position and represent the ag industry in Illinois,” she said.

Brenda Ludwig, Oakwood High principal, said Burke is a standout among her peers.

“Amie is a person that sets goals and she works very hard to reach those goals,” Brenda said.

“Her goal was to become a state officer and she worked very hard to get there.”

Burke was involved in many other activities at her school — including student council among others, and remained very involved in her church, Oakwood United Methodist Church, as well, where Ludwig and her family attend.

“I know doors will open for her because of this,” Ludwig added.

Ludwig’s husband, Gary Ludwig, also knows Burke.

The two are among an elite group: They’re two of the only three FFA state presidents ever elected from Vermilion County.

Gary’s tenure as president, from 1962 to 1963 gave him experiences he still remembers clearly.

Among them were the many friendships he developed with people all over the state and meeting former President Dwight D. Eisenhower at his farm in Gettysburg, Pa.

During a trip to Washington, Gary and other FFA members were scheduled to meet with him, but Eisenhower regretted having to change plans. He said if they could change their itinerary, he’d be happy to meet up with him in Pennsylvania, where his farm had a big Angus beef operation.

“We took a busload out there. He came out and met with us and shook hands with everybody,” Gary said.

Gary also remembers an interesting meeting with top executives of John Deere and International Harvester.

The discussion centered on creating enclosures on combines that would provide farmers more comfort during long, hot days in the fields.

The innovation later changed the industry.

Gary, a graduate of the University of Illinois, now works at Heartland Insurance and recently started raising dairy cows with some family members. He hopes the operation will boast 25 milking cows by spring.

“I think we had 200 speeches we had to give,” Gary said of his service. “We were on the road a lot.”

He still has dealings with people he knew back during his service.

“You run into lots of folks again,” he said.

He says Burke will serve her post well.

“You don’t see her with anything but a smile on her face,” he said. “She’s very good at what she does.”

Burke and other officers represent more than 17,000 Illinois FFA members. Each officer Illinois boasts nearly 300 FFA chapters.