Profiles of WYCEC Readers  

Cassie Manifee 

         Hello, my name is Cassandra Manifee, and I am a born and raised Arizona ranch girl. I am also one of the readers/presenters for WYCEC. I currently live West of Prescott in Skull Valley, AZ with my husband, Ryan, son Aubrey (13), and daughter Allie (9). I was raised on the Babbitt Ranches north of Flagstaff, AZ. This love for ranching and the agricultural industry runs deep in my family for 5 generations.

 I was given the opportunity to read to students in multiple Prescott Valley schools beginning in 2017. My first presentation was about the dairy industry in Southern Arizona. It was then that I realized how little the students knew about agriculture, especially in the correct context. There are aspects of our industry, like any industry for that matter, that are delicate. However, you can show these kids that everything has a life cycle and that ranchers are good stewards of the cattle-animals, water, and grasses. These are the things that rancher’s value.My hope is that the students understand that we are not bad people that just want to kill animals as we get portrayed in many cases. We love our animals, the lands and want to conserve this way of life. We are fighting an uphill battle right now; I do not know that some realize this. At the end of the day, I want to know that I stood for truth and for what was right. That I gave this young generation of kids a real look into our way of life. A way of life that I have had the privilege of living and representing.