Farming family’s siblings bring home La Sierra business degrees

“We never chose La Sierra for our kids. They chose it for themselves,” said Dawn and Steven Bickner who own a 400-acre almond tree and alfalfa farm in Lemoore, Calif. The family attends a Seventh-day Adventist church in nearby Hanford.

Their children, one after the other, each settled on La Sierra University and its Zapara School of Business, with their youngest child, Jordan, graduating on June 12 as a member of the university’s largest graduating class to date. 

Jordan Bickner received a Bachelor of Science in accounting, following in the footsteps of his brothers Shane and Zach who respectively graduated in 2007 and 2013 with the same degree. Shane also earned a Master of Business Administration in 2009. Their sister, Melissa, the eldest of the four, was the first to attend La Sierra, earning a business administration degree in 2003 with an emphasis in integrated marketing.

The brothers brought their business education home to the family farm where they help run things, taking care of accounting, payroll, projecting, budgeting, crop analysis, “and pretty much talk shop constantly,” Dawn Bickner said. 

Melissa Bickner is a full-time wife and mother of two in Chico. She uses her accounting skills to perform online bookkeeping for a Redlands medical practice. Her husband, Phill Jones, also has a business degree from La Sierra and attended medical school at Loma Linda University.

Shane and Zach’s expertise in accounting allows the farm to manage its own books in house. “My MBA helped solidify the transition from undergrad to real world situations,” Shane said. “I love my accounting degree for small business. Every decision can have financial impacts, so figuring problems out with numbers can be easy because of my degree.”

In the future, Jordan’s interests in agricultural pest control will bring another service under the farm’s umbrella, adding to its self sufficiency. Jordan will start classes in plant science this August to obtain a pest control advisor, or PCA license. He currently works as a field scout for a plant science firm in the Lemoore area and helps at the farm after work and on the weekends.

During college, Jordan spent his summers at the farm driving multiple tractors, running errands, and basically filling in the gaps for his father and brother, Shane. “[I was] their eyes and ears while they were stuck in the office,” he said.

The Bickner almond tree farm, which includes some open ground for growing alfalfa, corn, wheat or other crops, has been in the family for four generations. The present Bickner clan would like to expand the enterprise going forward and maintain the family heritage. “In the future it is our plan to be big enough to support all of us, but that will take some strategic maneuvering,” said Jordan. “For now, we will all do separate things but remain as involved as we can.”

The four Bickners earned strong marks at La Sierra, each bringing home increasingly impressive grade reports. Beginning with Melissa, each sibling set the bar higher for the one next in line. Jordan topped them all by graduating summa cum laude, an accomplishment motivated in no small part by friendly sibling rivalry and a promised financial reward.

“There definitely was a competitiveness amongst our kids for grades,” said Dawn Bickner. “When Jordan came along, it was pretty worrisome based on his lack of study skills in high school. We felt a little incentive was in order for some motivation. We offered him a bonus and Shane said he would match it if Jordan beat his siblings' GPA, knowing good and well that would never happen,” Dawn said. “But quarter after quarter he came up with straight As and would tell us to start writing the check. And so we did.”

But as with many parents, grades were not Dawn and Steven’s greatest concern during their children’s college years. “Our biggest worry sending our kids to college was who their roommates and friends would be, but thankfully they each chose a circle of life-long friends that we couldn't be more proud of,” said Dawn. “Melissa, Shane, Zach, and Jordan always liked bringing their city friends home to the farm [to experience] the tractors, the ice cream, the motorcycles, and the target practice in the back yard.” 

“Every penny spent on Christian education, and especially La Sierra, has been well worth it,” said the elder Bickners. “We appreciate each La Sierra University teacher who has mentored, educated, and [befriended] our kids. You were approachable, caring, helpful, fair, and all-around good to each one of them.”