It’s always exciting when our Young Farming Champions go into schools as part of The Archibull Prize for the first time, but it seems YFC Sam Wan has been particularly impressed by the experience.

 “HOOLEY WOOL-EY! What a day! I have been absolutely blown away by the energy of the Picnic Point High School students – the next generation ambassadors for wool.”

As a first generation Australian-born Chinese from Western Sydney Sam’s stereotypical career may have been accountant, doctor or lawyer; but not the predictable for our Sam. She is a wool broker with Elders!

Sam is the first to admit she didn’t know much about agriculture growing up but the combination of a great high school teacher, keen classmates and a mob of black Corriedales opened up an entirely new world. And that’s a world she’s keen to share with her Archibull school.

“Suburban Sydney is where I started and to go back and be able to show these students the world I’m now part of was incredible. The Archibull Prize program is providing an opportunity to students that I never had and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it.”

Sam’s visit to Picnic Point High School included the production of a wool stencil especially for them.

As well as donating their own stencil Sam told students of her life as a wool broker, and had a lot of fun teaching students tongue-twisters to get them used to the quick patter call of an auctioneer. She then used this to illustrate a whole range of careers available in agriculture. The fun continued when she introduced them to the benefits of wool craft and how recycling can be incorporated. Having only begun crocheting herself the week before her school visit, the kids were not the only ones learning!

With such a varied presentation there were bound to be plenty of questions as Sam soon discovered:

“I do know that I needed plenty of water to keep me going. There were questions on lanolin, wool prices, currency, wool types etc.I had no idea how many questions I was asked but the students most definitely took the opportunity to have a go at everything.”

And apart from “Hooley Wooley” Sam is keen to keep using another phrase to challenge her students to become wool ambassadors with her:

I WOOL. WOOL YOU?

#youthinag #youthvoices18 #archieaction