The clarity and joy found in determining your passion is unmatched. It can change the trajectory of your life and lead you to a wellspring of possibilities. That is the story of A’naya Ware, a graduating senior in the College of Agriculture of Human Sciences who will soon begin her agriculture career researching cannabis. While it’s common for most students in CAHS to go the pre-veterinarian or dietitian route in CAHS, Ware took to hemp research early during her time here at Prairie View A&M University and has never looked back.
A’naya Ware
“My roommate’s godfather at the time was talking to us about agriculture, particularly about the cannabis industry and how it’s getting ready to make this big boom that black people are not benefitting from in any way,” Ware recalled. “So that conversation sparked something in me and ever since then, I said this is what I’m going to do. And once I make up my mind, that’s it.”
Ware transferred to PVAMU in 2019 from Clark Atlanta University, majoring in biology to become a physical therapist. But after struggling to connect to the work, she shifted to agriculture and found her drive.
“The agriculture material really resonated with me,” Ware said. “I was lost in more than one way my freshman year. Something didn’t feel right. But ever since switching to Ag, a lot of things have changed. I’m more conservative now, I eat better, it was a whole big change.”
Transferring to PVAMU allowed her to get more hands-on experience and opened her world to hemp. Throughout her time here, she worked in the greenhouses conducting research and managing plants, presented her own research at multiple student symposiums and was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“I’m so grateful to the school for all the opportunities,” Ware said. “Prairie View has been good to me. I wish the pandemic didn’t come and ruin a lot of things, but even then, I excelled at what I know I can do.”
One of Ware’s goals include changing the cannabis industry from the inside out, and help it become an inclusive place for all people, which will hopefully lead to decriminalizing the plant nationwide. Her many achievements and determination to succeed can be traced back to her love of hemp. The versatile plant offers an endless supply of innovation beyond marijuana.
“You can wear hemp clothes, water bottles can be made from hemp, biofuel, houses, it’s a zero-waste plant if you want it to be,” Ware explained. “If we tap into all its uses, not only will it be very marketable, but it can also do a lot for the environment. Then there are its healing properties. Also, not everyone can grow it, so I like the challenge.”
In June, after graduation, Ware will begin an internship at Tetra Hemp, a local hemp producer in Texas. In this role, she will continue the kind of research she conducted at PVAMU. Her professor, mentor, and guide through hemp research, Aruna Weerasooriya, Ph.D., helped her secure the internship.
“I am very proud of A’naya’s accomplishments during her undergraduate research on industrial hemp,” Weerasooriya said. “Her curiosity, dedication, and commitment made her an excellent budding scientist. She is really a role model for other students. I wish her every success in her future endeavors.”
Other professors have also made her academic studies a success here in CAHS. “Mr. Rafash Brew, Dr. Prabha Amarasinghe, Dr. Griffin, and Dr. Daley helped me a lot. I only took Dr. Ampim’s class twice, but it stuck with me because it gave me the foundation for crop production and forest management.”
“In all of the classes that I have taught Anaya, she has impressed me with her thirst for learning and her desire to be of service to humanity by doing her best to make people healthier,” CAHS Professor Richard Griffin, Ph.D. said.
Ware is so assured of her future in hemp that she has the next several years of her professional career planned. After the Tetra Hemp internship, she will be mulling over a few other opportunities that will best serve her. Then she plans on becoming a full-time hemp cultivator and running her own operation in Texas. She also wants to produce fruits and vegetables, made available to a local community so she can provide quality produce for those in need.
“I do want to stay as sustainable as possible,” Ware said. “A lot of the time with cannabis, once you enter that large-scale realm it becomes less about the quality of the plant and more about numbers and pushing product. I want to grow for a purpose, to serve the community around me. They have needs and I want to meet them.”
Ware’s career path demonstrates how broad and profitable an agriculture degree can be. Her hope is that her path will lead other students to take a chance in agriculture.
“I wish more students would at least minor in agriculture, outside of the pre-vet track. If that’s your passion, I’m rooting for you. But it’s good to keep your options open in agriculture. I recommend everyone study a little bit about taking care of plants, at least take one class,” Ware suggests.
Ware hopes that PVAMU’s future includes more graduate and doctoral programs geared toward agriculture, specifically soil and plant sciences.
Pascale Mondesir
Communication Specialist II
pamondesir@pvamu.edu