On a recent visit to Wakefield Farm, Leadership Hart Youth participants learned that growing an agriculture business is about a lot more than tractors and tomatoes.
The group of 19 high school juniors toured Wakefield Farm, owned and operated by Dick Phillips, to observe a farm in action and discuss the diverse career opportunities in agriculture.
Facilitated by the UGA Archway Partnership, the tour brought together professionals in agriculture to show the students what goes on behind the scenes of a working farm and to discuss the varied skills needed for a successful operation. Students were surprised to learn that engineering, genetics, chemistry, bookkeeping and accounting are integral to agriculture today.
Leadership Hart Youth is developing the next generation of leaders by training them in communication, goal setting, career planning and community leadership. This is the fifth group of participants in the program, which has its roots in Leadership Hart, which began more than 10 years ago with the help of the UGA J.W. Fanning Institute for Leadership. When the Fanning Institute created a leadership curriculum for youth, Hart County signed on and began to implement that program.
The Archway Partnership, a unit of UGA Public Service and Outreach, connects designated communities with higher education resources to address critical, locally-identified community and economic development needs.

Students also enjoyed a tour of one of the oldest cabin structures in Georgia with Curtis Mewborn, retired UPS executive who’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Archibald Mewborn, built the cabin. Mewborn talked about the hard work, resourcefulness and risk-taking of the generations that came before and how to apply those lessons to being a successful leader today. The cabin is located on the Wakefiled Farm property, and Mewborn has worked with the Phillips family to preserve it and have it placed on the National Historic Register. After retirement, Mewborn returned to Hart County to run Mewborn Farms, just down the street from the Wakefield Farm property.

Students also enjoyed a tour of one of the oldest cabin structures in Georgia with Curtis Mewborn, retired UPS executive who’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Archibald Mewborn, built the cabin. Mewborn talked about the hard work, resourcefulness and risk-taking of the generations that came before and how to apply those lessons to being a successful leader today. The cabin is located on the Wakefiled Farm property, and Mewborn has worked with the Phillips family to preserve it and have it placed on the National Historic Register. After retirement, Mewborn returned to Hart County to run Mewborn Farms, just down the street from the Wakefield Farm property.

Students also enjoyed a tour of one of the oldest cabin structures in Georgia with Curtis Mewborn, retired UPS executive who’s great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Archibald Mewborn, built the cabin. Mewborn talked about the hard work, resourcefulness and risk-taking of the generations that came before and how to apply those lessons to being a successful leader today. The cabin is located on the Wakefiled Farm property, and Mewborn has worked with the Phillips family to preserve it and have it placed on the National Historic Register. After retirement, Mewborn returned to Hart County to run Mewborn Farms, just down the street from the Wakefield Farm property.