I thought it would only be fitting to start out my Odyssey writing career by thanking the organization that got me to where I am today. It's crazy to think that just five years ago (my sophomore year of high school), FFA Advisor Mrs. Macleod, was persuading me to join Liberty High School's FFA Chapter. I took a technology class with her during my freshman year and I ended up wanting to complete the Animal Science Completer program during my high school career. This decision led me to Mrs. Macleod's room once again so that I could take Intro to Agriculture and Intro to Animal Science. This is when she really got on me about being a great asset for their FFA chapter. I started to volunteer my time during and after school to help out with the FFA fundraising events and helping out anyway I could. It was then that she asked me if FFA was something I wanted to be a part of. At that point, I had already fallen in love with the organization- of course I said yes. I have never looked back on that decision.

From that day on (to present day, just finishing my sophomore year of college) I have gained nothing but great learning experiences and memories through the National FFA Organization. My high school FFA combined with my high school programs allowed me to complete a veterinary internship as well as compete at the state and national level in the Career Development Event (CDE). Although I decided that veterinary science was not my cup of tea, I am forever grateful for the experience I was given to explore and spread my wings in that field.

Eventually, I gave up the veterinary science career path. Through competing in the State and National Levels of the Horticulture CDE, I found that I had a great passion for plants and they interested me way more than veterinary science ever had. One day early in my senior year of high school, I ended up google searching "colleges with horticulture" and I found Delaware Valley University (Delaware Valley College at the time) as the top result. I had never heard of the school before so I did some research and decided to go and see the campus for one of their open house days.

Lets just say that the minute I stepped foot on DelVal's campus for the college open house I immediately fell in love with it. I knew that it was where I wanted to spend the four years following my high school graduation. At the beginning of the opening house we sat in one of the schools auditoriums; I happened to look up and I saw that they had a Collegiate FFA banner. Right then and there it confirmed any doubts that I had-I knew I would find a family at DelVal and I would immediately have an organization to become a part of.

DelVal was the first school to send me an acceptance letter. I had applied to a couple other colleges, but I knew that I was gonna be very happy there. Once I moved in to start my freshman year at DelVal (August 2014) I learned that my prediction had been right. I was placed to live with the most FFA oriented person possible- Ms. Emily White. She was the best friend that I could have ever imagined to have to begin my college journey. The constant reminder that FFA after high school was about giving back to the organization kept me in a positive mindset. I also met another girl (now great friend) Ms. Michaela Suder. She lived across the hall from Emily and me. She was also very involved in her high school FFA.

Freshman year at DelVal, Emily, Michaela, and I began our Collegiate FFA journey. In the first semester of our sophomore year at DelVal, we were each voted into a Collegiate FFA office. We now currently represent 1/2 of the executive team. The amount of time and energy that we have put into Collegiate FFA so far is beyond words. I cannot begin to describe what their friendships mean to me and I couldn't imagine life at DelVal without them.

Another opportunity I have come across (in the past week) was that accepted a landscaping job with Milby Lawn Care (Eldersburg, MD). I met the company owner through working at the PA Farm Show for my collegiate FFA chapter in late January of this year (2016). This is just another small example of the connections and opportunities that I have come across in my time with FFA.

All I know is that without having joined FFA I don't have a clue of where I might be attending college right now or what I might be studying or even what friends I might be surrounded with...

All I can say is thank you FFA.