FFA has had more impact upon my life and my career than anything else I have ever experienced. This is a bold statement, but it is true. I can honestly say that without FFA I would not be where I am today, nor would I have accomplished what I have. This weekend my wife, who is an amazing Agriculture teacher, and I will be attending the 85th Annual Tennessee FFA Convention.
FFA impacts its roughly 550,000 members in so many ways. It is fun, games, and contests, but it also teaches young adults life skills. It holds true to the tradition of passing knowledge and wisdom on from one generation to the next. It opens doors many kids could only have dreamed about walking through. It teaches us about life, and how to live it.
I, like everyone else, was an eager high school freshman. I was going to make my mark on the world. I tried football, but that just didn't cut it. Growing up, I enjoyed dabbling in farming with my gradpa, and kindly knew what FFA was, but once I discovered what it really was there was no turning back. I was fairly active my freshman and sophomore year, but Junior year I really found who I was. We got a new advisor, and I ended up competing in 13 contests, and who knows how many activities. I learned more that year than the previous two years put together.
On a side note I would just like to take a moment to put the spot light on our FFA Advisors. They put their life on hold to help their high school kids. They are a salaried position, but their hourly wage is next to nothing. Most people probably would not believe the amount of time my advisor and I spent together, nor the sacrifices he made so our FFA Chapter could do what it did. To all the Ag teachers out there, including my old high school advisors, my college advisor, and my wife who is an ag teacher, I commend you. You have earned my utmost respect.
One of the most important things FFA did for me was get me outside of Clay County. It let me see the world that was out there. I made contacts. I learned. I saw the opportunities the world held. FFA prepared me to step up to the challenges life would demand from me. I competed in numerous contests, toured colleges, met people, spoke in front of 200 people, and made the transition out of high school and into college.
I did job interview contest. I learned how to write a resume. I learned the soft skills required to succeed in todays business world. That lead to two internships and a full time position with our soil conservation district. I believe that if I did not have the practice in job interviews that FFA gave me I would not have obtained these jobs.
I learned more about all the different paths held within the title of agriculture. One of my favorite contests was meat judging because it was different. It was something I had never experienced before. I also got to visit the University of Tennessee in the process. I learned Parliamentary Procedure, which is a valuable skill fewer and fewer people are learning. I learned about the earth in land judging. I learned carpentry and how to cut a rafter in Ag mechanics. I learned public speaking. Our officer team held meetings. We learned how to accomplish things as a group. We held a banquet. The list goes on and on.
Last fall Amanda and I reached the summit of our FFA career. We received our American FFA Degree. For those of you who do not know, the American FFA Degree is awarded to FFA members who have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to FFA and made significant accomplishments in their Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs). That was an amazing achievement, but it was just a small part of what we were experiencing at that National FFA Convention. It was Amanda's first convention as an advisor. I had the opportunity to help a couple of National Officer Candidates in their bid for office. It seemed like we couldn't make it more that a hundred feet without meeting someone who had or will have a positive impact on our lives. One chapter of our FFA lives closed when we walked across that stage, but another was just beginning.
I could continue on and on with everything FFA means to me, but I think it suffices to say that the blue and gold holds a special place in my heart. That is the reason why there is a huge FFA emblem on the back on my truck, and if you walk into our house the first thing you see is an FFA emblem on our back door. To all the FFA members and advisors out there who impacted my life, I send you my deepest Thank You.
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