Goats, sheep, dairy beef and steers. Megan E. Gingrich has raised all of these animals over the years and won a few show prizes along the way.

In addition, the 18-year-old Manheim Central High School senior and longtime FFA member was named the Manheim Farm Show queen last October, and she vied for the title of 2011 Pennsylvania Fair Queen in January.

While she didn't win a state crown, "I was happy with how I did because it was a lot of work," said Gingrich, who had to write an essay, give a speech, be interviewed and appear on stage.

After being crowned as the Manheim Farm Show queen, Gingrich had to be on hand during farm show week for appearances and duties, such as giving out ribbons.

Gingrich is no stranger to the farm show, being a member of FFA, the agricultural education organization once known as Future Farmers of America. She joined the Manheim Central chapter as a freshman when she started taking agriculture sciences courses at school.

As part of FFA, Gingrich has raised goats, sheep and cattle bound for market, and she has had to keep careful records of these projects, including expenses and money made in selling the animals.

When she was 16, she began breeding her own Boer-cross goats. She has shown and sold her animals at the Elizabethtown Fair and Manheim Farm Show, winning some first- and second-place awards.

Gingrich recently earned her Keystone Degree, FFA's highest state honor, and was recognized along with other FFA members at the Pennsylvania Farm Show last month.

When she was a sophomore, she was part of a four-member school team that won at the FFA state level for farm business management, and the team traveled to the FFA national convention in Indianapolis.

Gingrich's interest in animals began when she was young and took up horseback riding. A member of the Sequoia Riders 4-H Club, she did Western pleasure riding with a leased horse.

Wanting to own an animal, and having the use of a small barn on her family's property, she got her first goat —a pygmy — when she was about 10. Within a couple of years, Gingrich branched into Boer goats, raising them to be sold and slaughtered. She also got involved with the Lancaster County 4-H Goat Club.

Knowing the animals' fate, "I cried when I was young," she recalled. But she soon came to the realization that "you just have to get used to the fact that they're going."

"It gets easier when you get older," she added.

For a second year, she is raising an Angus-Simmental steer, which she will take to the Manheim Farm Show.

Gingrich will be able to do that because she'll be living at home while studying nursing at the Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences, with the goal of earning a bachelor's degree and becoming a registered nurse.

"I really like helping people and just making a difference in people's lives," she said of her career choice. As her graduation project, Gingrich shadowed nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon.

Gingrich has been involved in a variety of school activities. In addition to serving as FFA treasurer last year and reporter this year, she is a member of the National Honor Society and has played field hockey since ninth grade, as a forward. She also tried track and softball and served two years as a student athletic trainer for boys' volleyball and wrestling and girls' basketball.

The former student council member also played trumpet in the marching, concert and jazz bands in ninth and 10th grades.

Gingrich works at John M. Hess Auction Service Inc., Manheim.

She and her family attend Speedwell Heights Brethren in Christ Church of Lititz, and she participates in the youth group at Chiques Church of the Brethren, Manheim. With the youth group, she has been on home-building trips to New Orleans and South Carolina.

She is the daughter of Duane and Michelle Gingrich, Manheim. She has two younger brothers, Mitchell and Benjamin, and a younger sister, Julianna.