Campus Farm Student Spotlight: Kevin Magill

Fresno State ag education certificate student Kevin Magill has taken a unique & admirable path to his degree, and his skills have also been tapped as an ag operations student assistant. In that job, he worked with staff on a wide range of equipment and facility projects for the 22 units on our 1,000-acre University Agricultural Laboratory.

The Fresno native initially planned on becoming a physical therapist and graduated with a kinesiology degree from Fresno Pacific University in 2016. He also was a utility player and pitcher for the Sunbird team that won the 2014 National Christian College Athletic Association world series title.

Once he started his career as a physical therapist, he had a change of heart, and decided to go back to Reedley College and College of the Sequoias to start a path towards an agricultural teaching degree.

Now in his final semester of student teaching at Merced Golden Valley High School, learn more in this recent interview about how he is following in the footsteps of his father, Paul Magill (the head of the Fowler High School agricultural education department where he has taught since 1996).

 

Q: What attracted you to Fresno State, what were some of your favorite classes, and why did you choose ag education as a degree?

Magill: "Fresno State is my hometown college and is a great school for agriculture. Also, my mother graduated from Fresno State and is a speech and language pathologist, and so did my brother, Chris, and my sister, Emily. My favorite classes would be some of the mechanics classes because of the hands-on experience I can use in my job and as an ag teacher."

Magill: "Teaching is ingrained in me by how I grew up. My dad was extremely family oriented, and I feel like I will be able bring my own family into it, too. I've always been attracted to sports because I'm competitive naturally, and in agriculture you can find the same dynamic since there are a ton of teams that do competitions."

Q: What was your ag background growing up?

Magill: "Even though we lived in Fresno, ever since kindergarten I was often at the Fowler school farm every weekend and all summer long with my dad. They had an active greenhouse there, and some animals like pigs, goats and sheep. I was even part of the first class that showed goats in FFA. I also competed on the landscape design team in high school, but I was really involved in sports, too, so I was pretty busy, and didn't do as much as I could have."

 

Q: You've had an interesting college road map - give us a quick overview of the last eight years of your life.

Magill: "In the fall of 2011, I went to Fresno Pacific on a baseball scholarship and eventually graduated with a degree in kinesiology in pre-physical therapy. I wasn’t happy when I started a full-time job, so I decided to jump back into agriculture and pursue a second degree in ag education with an emphasis in plant science. While attending the College of the Sequoias and Reedley College, I was also able to get agriculture experience at the Reedley College farm, then received a job with Takao Nursery in greenhouse management. In 2019, I transferred to Fresno State and also got a job with its farm maintenance unit that allowed me to learn more in agriculture mechanics under some great mentors. I was able to improve my welding skills, work on watering systems, and learn about other farm systems and facilities."

Q: Talk about that fork in the road you faced career-wise after you got that first degree.

Magill: "After I graduated, I started a full-time job as a physical therapist at Synergy Water Therapy in Fresno. I loved my co-workers but realized that I wouldn't love this type of job as a career. It was tough to switch and leave a full-time salary position to go back to college."

Q: Who helped you make the decision to go back to agriculture as a career?

Magill: "I met with some teachers at Fresno State like Dr. Steve Rocca who encouraged me to make since I was worried I was too old and far along to go back and start over. I owe a lot to him, because he really helped me believe in myself, and that I wasn't that far off academically. I'm so glad I came back. I also have a very supportive family and friend group around me that made it all possible."

Q: Before we get too far into the ag part, talk about your college baseball career after being an all-state first-team high school pick, and any memories that stand out.

Magill: "It was an interesting ride. I got to play in the world series, but also missed a couple years because of major surgeries to my knee and shoulder. My freshman year in 2012, I started in centerfield. Two years later we won the national championship, and I was a designated hitter, and even got to pitch in the world series. We only got in because we won a play-in by winning the regional tournament at Azusa Pacific. When we got to the world series, we were a lower seed and weren't expected to win, but we stayed undefeated to stay in the winners bracket the whole way."

Q: What was it like to pitch in the world series?

Magill: "It was definitely an unforgettable experience, especially since It was my first pitching appearance of the season. Since we could only take 25 players to nationals (and it was the fourth game in three days), they needed someone to come in (with the score tied 0-0 in the fifth inning). For a position player to pitch in that situation is a little unique, but I was throwing hard, around 88-90 mph, so I thought this could go really well or not. (After giving up a single) I was able to get a strikeout and two fly balls and not allow a run. I tried to act cool it on the way back to the dugout, but I had definitely been more nervous than the batters. Luckily we were the only undefeated team in our bracket so we had a little leeway even if we had lost the game."

Magill: "In the dugout I saw I had texts from my friends who were watching the game, and also my dad who (jokingly) asked if I had given someone else my jersey. It was only my second appearance pitching in college because I had pitched once before at a senior day. I was glad they only had me pitch that one inning. The next year in the winter, I won the closer spot out of the bullpen, but then needed surgery and missed the year."

Q: Did you face any major league players along the way while you were in college?

Magill: "One pitcher from Azusa Pacific was a high draft pick for the Royals (Josh Staumont), and he throws 96-102 mph. We also had a guy from our team drafted that year."

Q: Back to agriculture ... talk about resetting your focus at Reedley College & the College of the Sequoias and the transition to Fresno State.

Magill: "I took classes from 2016 through 2019 to get the agriculture units I needed. I didn't need to actually graduate since I already had a degree, just specific classes I needed for my ag ed teaching credential program. Then I took classes at Fresno State in the fall of 2019 and spring 2020 to get an equivalency degree from Fresno State in ag education with a plant science emphasis."

Magill: "I also got hired to work on the farm at Fresno State. It helped that I had worked at the Reedley farm because the advisors suggested that I needed some work experience to get into the Fresno State credential program so Reedley hired me as a farm tech. I worked 25 hours a week during the school year, and helped manage a lot of their irrigation areas and whatever else they needed."

Q: Talk about any other internships or other work experiences that helped prepare you for your career path.

KM: "I got hired at Takao Nursery in Fresno and worked in their big greenhouse, and with a lot of their filtration equipment. They are focused on propagating plants, so I was also in charge of the mother stock which is where you take the cuttings from. That experience helped when I got hired at Fresno State, because I could use that experience while working with watering systems for a lot of the animal units, which ties in closely to irrigation systems since it's all pipe work."

Magill: "Takao (Nursery) was also great because it was one of my first jobs where I was often the only person at the greenhouse. When I made a set schedule for myself, it was up to me, and only me, to make deadlines to get things done. I learned to be very accountable and manage my time better. I also learned a lot about plant science since watering schedules for types of plants that were very different, such dry climate plants vs. perennial or annual plants that might need a little every day."

Q: What types of other projects were you involved with on the Fresno State campus farm?

Magill: "I installed a lot of motors and pumps. We also did welding projects for gates or fences on-site at the animal units if things broke. We also did a lot of cooling system maintenance. Each day we got a new call at any time, so we didn't know what we would be doing, but knew we would be busy, and multiple things could happen at the same time at different places that we would have to deal with."

Magill: "The best part about the job was that my supervisors were really fun to work with and taught me everything. I haven't had experience with areas like that, and they were very easy to talk to about anything, either in work or outside of work."

Q: It sounds a little like you were back on the baseball field, and part of a team with these surrogate 'coaches'.

Magill: "Yes, both are a tight-knit group of guys, and ag operations is a very team-like atmosphere. Mike Martinez and Mike Flores (from the campus & ag operations staff) have been such great mentors. This has been my favorite work experience because it's such a positive work environment - something we all strive for in our jobs."

Q: How did your work and student teaching schedule change in the spring when classes went virtual?

KM: "Interestingly, I was able to still work fairly easily on the Fresno State farm and do the virtual teaching in the spring. I didn't have to commute to Clovis East, so it made my schedule actually a little easier to balance."

Q: What's next in your career path?

Magill: "I'm doing a final semester of student teaching this fall full-time at Merced Golden Valley High School under the plant science pathway."

Q: When you become a high school teacher, do you see any potential for coaching, too?

Magill: "It's something I would like if it works out. I've volunteer-coached at Fowler for their summer ball and American Legion teams and been a paid Baseball USA coach for their camps in Fresno. I was also a quarterback in high school, and helped coach the football and baseball team at Fowler afterwards. Being involved in ag is already very team-like, so that will be my main focus, and sports could be something I add in."

 

Q: Is there anybody you would like to thank for helping you get your degree at Fresno State?

Magill: "Definitely my fiance and entire family for the support and love I received when I decided to come back to get a second degree. I would also like to thank the entire farm maintenance and farm management staff for giving me the opportunity to work for them and also allowing me to come in every day, and loving what I do, and the people I got to work with."