It’s that time of year – you guessed it, FFA Week. You may have taken a hint from the seemingly millions of changed profile pictures filled to the brim with people donning the famed corduroy blue jacket. But you may be wondering, why is FFA such a big deal? If you’ve never been a part of the early morning bus rides, enduring all weather extremes in official dress and memorizing your opening ceremony part, you may just not get it. And that’s okay.

FFA is a national organization that is classified as an “intracurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership.” (ffa.org). Agricultural Education has three components. They include classroom instruction, SAE’s and FFA.

FFA has given me the opportunity to travel far and wide. I have spent many a mornings bundled up in a bus or truck voraciously reviewing judging material as soon as first light allowed. Which meant being up far before dawn. But it also gave me the opportunity to visit many of the small towns that dot the vast plains of New Mexico. Truth Or Consequences, Carrizozo, Roswell, Quemado, Portales, Deming, Silver City, Weed and even the much larger Albuquerque were all on the list. I have unique memories of each. I will forever remember that each time we judged in Quemado, it snowy flakes dropped down (which for our state doesn’t tend to happen often where I’m from). That with it being incredibly windy (#springinnewmexico, we wore safety glasses to accurately judge livestock and horse.

But even though I enjoyed the smaller towns, it also allowed me to travel through and to bigger cities that seemed like they were universes away. I’ve traveled to/through Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado to attend FFA Conventions (on  a national and state level), judging competitions for horse and judging clinics for livestock.

In highschool I probably never would have never actually traveled if FFA had not given me the opportunity to. You have to realize that this was when the housing market was happening. There wasn’t necessarily money left to go vacationing as a family, but there was enough that I could have valuable experiences like these.

Traveling so often also made me independent and much punctual because I knew I was responsible for myself the entire time spent on the road. Snacks, medications, layers, etc. That all needed to be ready to go before we departed at 6 AM.

My FFA program was very focused upon competing in judging (CDEs). You had to work to develop and keep a competitive edge. Just like an athlete, there was a lot of preparation before competing. Performing Saturday morning and later on that day was determined by how you prepared five days prior. For those who have never judged competitively, I understand it’s difficult to realize the commitment to excellence that was demonstrated to us by our coaches every practice, and that we vigorously pursued. But to say we took it seriously was an immense understatement.

FFA also taught me how to set goals. Each weekend we competed in CDE’s we were evaluated and a points based system. That was what determined which students made it to the state contest after qualifying in your district. Practice makes perfect, and I can’t tell you how much time I dedicated to trying to be successful. FFA gave me the passion to pursue my personal best in trying to make it to compete at a state level. Throughout my high school career I competed in the horse, livestock and veterinary technician CDE’s.

That girl who was one of the crazies chomping at the bit for judging card to come up to see how I performed and how our team did is still here. The same one who burst into tears when she learned she placed as a high-point individual.

I had the privilege of being an FFA officer in my local chapter all four years of high school. Anytime I considered doing something less than stellar, I thought about how my peers would react. Part of being a leader is being a positive role model. I wanted to be a great leader and set an example for all of the members in our chapter. Especially, our greenhands (freshmen). I knew the values my organization stood for and I didn’t want to disgrace it with a less than intelligent decision. Literally I was worried that I went through a school zone a little fast on accident with my jacket hanging in the back.

Because wearing a blue corduroy jacket is a privilege and represents exceptional morals that I tried to live up to every day.

I’m not saying I didn’t make mistakes. However, I am saying that I tried awful hard.

Like literally, this is how I met my husband. I never would have ever spent time with him outside of FFA (we ran in different social circles. It was because we were both on the livestock judging team that he became my best friend. It only took a few hours for him to start teaching me everything he knew about it. He would always stay late or be early to help set up for chapter functions. And so eventually we grew from friends to husband and wife today.

For any and every FFA member out there, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that even if you didn’t find a spouse you found extended family. When I was a member at the high school level I spent more time with my advisors than at home. My agriculture teachers were like second parents. I never even thought that was possible because lets face it – my parents are the best in the whole world. But yeah, it did. The fact that my advisors were there to support me not only emotionally but to push me to grow more and to certainly introduce a little humor into every situation as well as sharing their wealth of knowledge made FFA a great experience for me.

The other members, they were fantastic. The amount of hours you spend with them creates relationships that last a lifetime. It also gave me the opportunity to create a family that extended past my chapter, even if it is part of a rival high school (still love you all even if you go to Mayfield).

FFA gave me something to wake up every day with a passion to do. It helped me decide what I wanted to do with my life. FFA also certainly gave me information about the agriculture industry I wouldn’t have otherwise. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I graduated. However, God always has everything figured out. I came to New Mexico State University with the intention of minoring in AXED because of how FFA impacted my life throughout high school. I wanted to do the same thing my agriculture teachers did for me: to make a difference.

In the end, my love for FFA was what propelled me to receive my degree in agricultural communications and it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made. Wanting to focus on animal agriculture primarily (with a livestock production minor) was due to my experience with my SAE showing dairy heifers. It is the reason that I continue to make time to blog and share agriculture’s message and farmer’s stories. FFA is the spark that propelled me to intern in Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana and become a State and National Beef Ambassador. It is the reason I still want to become a speaker.

How has FFA impacted your life?

Thank you so much for reading!!!

-Lauren

Sources
https://www.ffa.org/