Let's say that you are a student at a school that has a very prominent FFA Chapter. You never understand why a particular group of your peers are constantly leaving early, or miss 10+ days of school a semester. Those are the students that have taken their agricultural education classes to the next level. Maybe by finding a CDE (Career Development Event) that they have fallen in love with, maybe they truly enjoy the public speaking side of things, or maybe they might be gone for a leadership conference, State or National Convention. From the outside looking in, ag may seem like a super easy way to get out of class, but in reality the "aggies" have quite the load to take on every day. Here's a list of things that the ag kids know all too well...
1.) Whether we have school or not, we still have animals to take care of. Yes... even when it is 28 degrees outside, we still have ice to break, animals to feed and walk, and wash.
2.) We might get out of school more days than we can count, however, we are still responsible for making up every assignment that we miss. Many times, we will be working on math or whatever else we may have on the way to the Interscholastic, or on our way home.
3.) The late nights of getting home around 10:00 pm or even later plus the early mornings can truly take a toll on us. But, we adjust to our new sleep schedules and keep on keeping on.
4.) We do much more than "just go on trips." Preparing for a certain event takes weeks, sometimes even months to write and memorize speeches. For those that are more experienced, they may keep practicing and preparing even through the summer.
5.) We have learned how to make ourselves feel good in a blue corduroy jacket. No, it is not the most comfortable thing to wear. But for most of us, we only have four years in it, some are lucky enough to have five. We have to cherish each one of those moments because they will not last forever.
5.) We spend more time with our ag teachers, the officers, and other members than we do our own parents and siblings.
6.) The ag building has become our home away from home. Many times we do everything here besides sleep.
7.) We may or may not show up to school smelling like crap. Literally crap.
8.) We have become comfortable speaking to people that we don't even know.
9.) We have found ways to sleep comfortably in a lawn chair because of our time spent at stock shows.
10.) We love going to different places and seeing people that we already know and adore.
