2. It's more than Cows, Sows, & Plows

Speaking from my personal experiences in High School, I have found that the majority of the kids who are not active in FFA think it is only for kids who show livestock, or work on farms. They think  they can’t be in FFA because they don’t fall into either of those categories. However, that is not the case. As Joe Martin from Indiana FFA Chapter said “The organization has grown to be more than cows, sows, and plows; the modern FFA is about beakers, speakers, and job seekers.” Talk about hitting the nail on the head, he could not have summed up the FFA Organization any better.

Kids who participate in FFA have the option to learn about livestock and judge them at contests, they can compete in public speaking events, leadership workshops, community service projects, and the sky is truly the limit for these kids.

I was blessed to have grown up around agriculture all my life. Living in a small rural town in Kansas has taught me more about life and who I am as a person then the city could ever teach me. FFA was a pretty big deal in my high school, we have a decent sized chapter, and our advisor worked hard to make sure we were successful. The opportunities we were given have helped me get jobs, get into college, get scholarships, and even internships.

I love public speaking, I’m surprisingly pretty good at it. That has not always been the case, my freshman year of high school my FFA advisor informed us that we had a public speaking contest coming up, of course I wasn’t going to go. The thought of speaking in front of people terrified me, but my advisor signed me up and made me go. That was the day I discovered my hidden talent so to speak. The point I am trying to make is, the opportunities are endless for these kids. My public speaking skills will help me throughout my life, I am comfortable in front of large audiences, and with the career path I have chosen speaking in front of people will be a daily task for me. If it wasn’t for my advisor pushing me to try something new and step outside of my comfort zone I never would have tried public speaking and I would not be where I am today. Until next time, remember it's more than cows, sows, and plows.