Madeline Parr grew up in east Tennessee where she started riding horses at the age of seven. Even with no familial ties to agriculture, she quickly became heavily involved in the 4H Horse Project and AQHA, making valuable connections and earning many outstanding awards. To earn a bachelor's degree, Madeline followed her dreams and attended Virginia Tech and graduated in May of 2023 with a focus in equine science. She then applied for graduate school at the University of Tennessee under the mentorship of Dr. Jennie Ivey. So far, this program has allowed her to go above and beyond in both teaching and research opportunities including extension, coaching the horse judging team, and researching equine metabolic gene expression.