The impact MAST left with me:
1. Take personal responsibility and stay with the work.
2. Never quit before the work has been completed.
3. Always focus on possibilities and not obstacles.
With all this in mind I can now, some 60 years later, observe myself as an independent dairy farmer, agricultural teacher, elected board member in several organizations, a husband and a proud father and grandfather. Everything achieved while I still have that love for farming I managed to learn while picking rocks in Minnesota back in the sixties.
Coming abroad with limited knowledge of English was the biggest obstacle for most of us European boys, and I will never forget a visit with one of the Danish boys about a month after our arrival. My friend was on a farm about 60 miles from where I was placed, and my visit with him was the first chance he had to speak Danish. He was mowing the lawn with a John Deere self propelled lawn mower, and said to me in Danish: “I just have to park this ‘S.O.B’ in the garage” Surprised I asked: “ What did you call this machine?” Proudly he proclaimed: “ A lawnmower in English is called a S.O.B.” When I shook my head in disbelief, he went on saying: “Pete (the farmer) always says: Take that S..O..B…. and mow the lawn” My friend later picked up English at a very good level, and was able to fulfill our classes at the U of MN with flying colors.
My experience with the MAST program and especially the wonderful engaged staff behind the program has later in my career been the Lighthouse always shining and leading me in the right direction. A direction I have tried to teach my students to follow , and it makes me proud to see how many actually did.
