Senior Cooper Middleton may just seem to be a normal person at the school, but he is quite the opposite. He is widely known as the beekeeper that went to nationals for the school. Cooper was a part of the Guyer FFA team and worked hard on the team to make it to nationals.
“The FFA is a very inclusive community, everyone’s friends. You always meet new people, i’m still connected with some of the people I met at nationals,” Middleton said.
Being a beekeeper, Middleton had won recognition at the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo.
“I ran under proficiency, when you do something very well, you can run under a division that FFA offers. There is a bunch of steps like writing a big report of what you’ve done. So mine started back in freshmen year,” Middleton said.
Even with the struggles of not knowing about certain things and how to take certain steps till right before they were due, Middleton managed to still do his best and place higher in the ranks of the competition.
“You had a week to redo anything that you didn’t do good on and had to submit it, but I didn’t figure out till the day before school started,” Middleton said.
Middleton found his interest in beekeeping in the agriculture program at Guyer and working at his grandparents house in Argyle. Middleton spent hours working and dedicated himself to this profession.
“I started with bees with my grandpa when I was five, and it started as a little hobby,” Middleton said. “And then it turned into a full business, from raising hives, to selling hives, to making hive boxes.”
While Middleton was working in the beekeeping business, the country clubs he had visited suggested that he run for state. This resulted in him becoming a figure that’s known by many people, as well as getting a full time job out of it.
“Now I’m one of the state board of directors,” Middleton said. “I go around to middle schools and elementary schools and other places to speak about the industry and my experience with it.”
Middleton is very interested in the beekeeping industry and one day hopes to be a part of or have his own business in the beekeeping field.
“It’s a very intricate business and something I would definitely like to get into at some point,” Middleton said.
