Sheldon Waldron ’14: From the Kohl Centre to the Frontlines of Virginia Ag Finance
The Kohl Centre Insights series highlights how experiential learning opportunities at the centre have fostered success for its student fellows, offering unique experiences beyond the traditional classroom
Tell us about yourself, where you’re from, where you grew up, and what brought you to Virginia Tech.
I grew up on a poultry farm in Churchville, VA (Shenandoah Valley), where I currently reside with my wife and three children. I was drawn to Virginia Tech by my passion for agriculture and following the footsteps of two older brothers who graduated from Virginia Tech in agricultural and applied economics.
What is your current job? What do you do with it? What other fun professional opportunities have you had after Virginia Tech?
I am an agricultural loan officer with First Bank and Trust Company. In this role, I do more than just loan money to farmers. I try to partner with my customers to help them properly structure debt, keep up to date with programs that may apply to them, and help them analyze and plan the financial side of their businesses. Before working for the bank, I had the opportunity to do an internship in sales with Case IH, where I traveled much of North America and worked for a few years as an equipment salesman after college for Hoober Inc.
What was your experience with the Kohl Centre? I understand that you played a key role in the development of the “Sometimes, Half the Road Is Not Enough™” campaign. How did this get started? Where did you take it? What kind of impact did the campaign have?
My time with the Kohl Centre was the semester after my internship with Case IH. I was asked to join and help “restart” the Kohl Centre, with a blank slate and the guidance that we wanted a project that was agriculture-related and beneficial to the agricultural and non-agricultural community. “Sometimes, Half the Road Is Not Enough™” came to me after months of meeting with farmers in my internship and hearing about how dangerous and challenging it was to move today’s equipment on the roadways. The project was an effort to educate drivers about how large today’s farm equipment is and to have patience when sharing a roadway with farm equipment. One of the most meaningful and popular displays of this project was the setup at the Virginia State Fair. We laid out a black mat the width of a typical two-lane road (complete with center line for reference), put a passenger vehicle heading one way and a combine harvester heading the other way in their respective lanes. This display drew a lot of attention (still does each year) and gives a great perspective on how much larger farm machinery is than a passenger vehicle and the amount of roadway these machines need to travel.
How did your Kohl Centre experience and your AAEC experience more broadly impact your professional development?
My Kohl Centre experience had a significant impact on my professional development, as this project involved real-life thinking and problem solving without the guidance of a textbook. During my time at Virginia Tech and especially during my Kohl Centre project, I was able to meet and become acquainted with numerous influential members of the agricultural community in both Virginia and along the East Coast. I was also blessed to have The First Bank and Trust Company sponsor our Kohl Centre project. Two members of the bank attended our final presentation, where I met them for the first time. These same two gentlemen contacted me a few short years later with offers to join them at the bank.
