MATTHEW BURNETTE, Staff Writer

Coffee County Central High School senior Elizabeth Anderson recently received the honor of being named the 2025 Future Farmers of America Middle Tennessee Star in Agribusiness, and at the end of March, she gets the opportunity to compete for State honors as well.

“I was very pleased and very happy about it,” said Anderson. “After all, we have put a lot of time and effort into this, so it was really, really, joyful to receive this award.”

The “this” alluded to by Anderson is her business Pleasant Knoll Puppies which she retains half ownership of alongside her mother Michelle.

Together they breed Labrador retriever, cavalier King Charles spaniel, and Havanese puppies from their home.

Of those three breeds, Anderson says the Havanese is probably her favorite.

“They’re probably my favorite because they have one person they absolutely love,” she explained. “They just want to be around that person. They like other people a little bit, but they’re not gonna stick around.”

The idea for the business came after two of the family’s Labradors mated and produced a litter of nine puppies. When the puppies were old enough, right before Christmas, the family sold them to good homes and continued from there.

Anderson says that she’s always had an interest in agricultural due to her upbringing on her family’s farm.

“Our family, all the land around us, we own 300 acres,” she explained. “We also have a business in Summitville. It’s called Summitville Grain and Feed, and we have corn, wheat and soybeans that we all farm over there along with cattle.”

As far as her biggest influences in the agricultural field, Anderson was quick to point towards her mother.

“She’s the one that has raised me, of course, and I’ve always seen her messing with dogs, messing with the cattle,” she recalled. “She helped my dad with farming for over 25 years before she finally took a step back and my brothers, I have four brothers, all started helping out more.”

Anderson was also quick to note that her favorite part of high school has been her involvement in the FFA and all the travelling she’s got to do to different competitions, though she says her start with the organization was a little rocky.

“I didn’t have a pretty good start with it my freshman year,” said Anderson. “My teacher at that time, she was pregnant, so she had went on maternity leave about halfway through the class year, and we just never really got involved with it. We were just told that we are considered an FFA member as long as you’re enrolled in an Ag class.”

It wasn’t until she got into contact with Coffee County FFA advisor Kim Miller that she got more involved.

“She was very quiet to start with, but she always paid attention and she was always prepared in doing everything, and so when I found out that she was one of the Andersons and I had all four of her brothers, I asked her to start attending some things, and she just fit right in and just took it and went on with it,” remembered Miller who also teaches Agriculture at CCHS. “Then I brought up doing this proficiency and she has just really outshined and overworked and excelled at everything that she’s done, so we’re really pleased with her and her progress.”

In addition to her business, Anderson has also participated in several Floriculture (growing flowers) competitions and currently serves as the 2024-2025 Vice President of the Coffee County FFA Chapter.

“We’re just really excited to have her. I hate to see her leave, but I know she’s going to great things,” added Miller. “If we’ve got one that’s gonna be a vet, I think she’s the one that’s gonna make it.”

After graduation, Anderson plans on attending U.T. Martin as part of their Pre-Veterinary program and then moving on to U.T. Knoxville. She ultimately hopes to become a mobile vet.

As far as Pleasant Knoll Puppies, the business will continue, just not as big of a scale as it currently is.

“We’re going to have to cut back just a little bit since it will just be my mom here,” explained Anderson. “I will have to hire someone so they can come in and clean and wash and kind of just take care of everything a little bit.”

The biggest challenge Anderson says she had to overcome with the business was figuring out the marketing. Pleasant Knoll makes sure that all of their puppies are taken care of as well as they can be, so all of that effort doesn’t leave much time for things like taking pictures.

“All the dogs have to be well socialized, so that’s something you have to get in there and do, so that was definitely my biggest thing was marketing,” she explained.

Anderson and her mother eventually found an online program to help with the marketing side of things and were able to grow the business and find new customers.

She says that the most important lesson she’s learned is that you have to have patience.

“Not everything will happen at once,” she said. “It’s something you’ve got to work with. It’s something you’ve got to experience yourself.”