Lane Golla is a senior working towards a bachelor of science while majoring in animal science at West Texas A&M University. Golla is from New Braunfels, Texas, and is driven to inform others about the field of agriculture.
Golla plans to pursue a career where he’ll own and operate a business in the agriculture industry.
“I want to open up my own custom processing plant and meat market close to home,” Golla said.
After meeting WT faculty during high school and extracurriculars that interested him, Golla knew he would come here.
“I was involved in 4-H ever since high school, and I competed against my now advisors’ son and daughter, so he recruited me to come up here,” Golla said. “I got involved in the Meat Lab, and I’ve worked there since freshman year.”
Golla’s plans to own and operate a plant and meat market will educate others about agriculture in many ways.
“My motto has always been, ‘feed the world, and not just with food, but with information and knowledge about the agricultural industry,’ so that’s really why I want to start my own business, so that way I can continue to do that in the best way I know how,” Golla said.
One thing Golla enjoys about WT is being around people with similar goals and beliefs.
“My favorite thing about my major is the people I get to work with and interact with on a daily basis,” Golla said. “They’re just a group of like-minded people; We all get along well, and they’re just as passionate as I am in the same field. It’s awesome to see the growth that we’ve had in the past, not just decade, but century and talk about it together.”
Golla plans to immediately pursue higher education once receiving his bachelor’s.
“Once I graduate from undergrad, I’ll go get my MBA and stay at WT,” Golla said. “Then, after I get my MBA, I want to start slowly opening up my business.”
Aside from meeting WT faculty, Golla chose WT after competing in the Texas Cattle Feeder Men’s Association (TCFA).
“Well, I came to WT since I was recruited by my current advisors, but I competed in the TCFA,” Golla said. “They host their contest up here [The Panhandle] every summer. I competed in it for five years, so I got to know WT and the area well. I also went to a small Catholic school during high school, so WT kind of felt like home.”
While part of TCFA, Golla competed in the Fed Cattle Beef Challenge, where he learned to raise steers and maintained a record book containing profit, loss, cost per pound of gain, feed efficiency, and more. While at WT, Golla has received many diverse opportunities.
“Since being at WT, I’ve been given the opportunities to have a place to really pursue my passion, which was the Meat Lab, and I have great teachers to work for and learn under,” Golla said. “I’m also the Student Body Vice President, so that’s been a real blessing, and it’s taught me a lot about the university. I get to work with some pretty great people as the Vice President by learning some things that most people don’t think I know about or learn.”
After running into a familiar face during NSO, Golla decided to pursue involvement in the Student Government Association (SGA).
“I decided to run for Student Body Vice President because of Annie Valicek,” Golla said. “She was the president before Fili [Filiberto Avila, former Student Body President], and I competed against her in high school. At NSO, she saw me walk in and said, ‘Hey, Lane, I think you should come join us [SGA],’ so I joined. I was a Senator my freshman year, and then my sophomore year, I was on our Student Judicial Board. Then, Kyal Browne approached me about potentially running with her, and I said, ‘You know what? Yeah, I think I will.’ I love leadership positions, and Kyal has convinced me to do them. So, now being in the position, it’s perfect, and I enjoy it a lot.”
One thing Golla likes about WT is the fellowship.
“My favorite thing about WT is its close-knit community,” Golla said. “You can’t walk anywhere without knowing someone, no matter where you are on campus or off campus.”
Around campus is part of three judging teams: the meat judging team, the meat and animal evaluation judging team and the livestock judging team. Outside of academics, Golla enjoys to workout as well as be outside whether it’s to hunt, fish or go to Palo Duro Canyon.
Golla believes you should stay true to yourself throughout your endeavors.
“Never let your talent take you somewhere where your character can’t back you up,” Golla said.
