As much as I loved my high school, I’ll admit it had a serious problem with “Ag kids.” Students who chose to take agriculture classes were seen as either lazy or not smart enough to take other classes. My school was divided into wings for different subject and the Ag wing had a reputation with people purposely going out of their way to avoid it. It was in that very wing that I found my home in high school.

I wasn’t always an Ag kid. At my high school, we had to choose a major, and complete so many classes in that major. I was “pre-nursing” so I spent the first part of my high school career taking anatomy and biomedical classes. All I knew of FFA was that they wore funny jackets, but my sophomore year I began dating an “Ag kid.” I slowly started going to casual FFA events like the Christmas party and helping them run their booth at a local festival. It wasn’t until my junior year that I really became involved. I came to nearly every event, even the farm work days where we spent all day working outside in 90 degree weather. I helped grow, cut and work a haunted corn maze. I began spending most of my time in the dreaded Ag wing, where I was so nervous to go just 2 years before. That summer I studied agribusiness at Morehead for 5 weeks for a program called GSP. I did everything from floating horses’ teeth to doing ultra-sounds on cows (much harder than it sounds by the way). I just fell more and more in love with agriculture.

So, as soon as school started back, I switched into Ag classes. I had already completed all the classes I needed for my major, so I basically just had a fun year of taking what I wanted. Some of my teachers were horrified that I dropped AP classes to take animal science and greenhouse. They asked if I was “going through something,” told me I was making a huge mistake. One of my coaches even yelled at me, exclaiming that I was doing it for some boy. A few were a little nicer; they just assumed I wanted an “easy” senior year. Nobody seemed to really understand. Looking back, I am so happy I didn’t listen to any of them. Even though, I am not majoring in anything Ag related in college, FFA was absolutely the best thing I did in high school, for more than a few reasons.

I Learned to Appreciate Agriculture

“Where would we be without agriculture? Naked and Hungry?” was a phrase I came to know by heart in high school. As I’ve said before, the Ag department was kind of under attack at my school, so I had to constantly defend my decision, and agriculture in general, to people. I think a big reason everyone is so critical of Ag is that they don’t realize how important it is to their lives. Without Ag, we wouldn’t have food to eat, clothes to wear, or houses to live in. Go listen to “Thank a Farmer” by James Wesley.

I Learned the Value of Hard Work

I was a straight A student in high school and my life basically revolved around the academic team, so I knew what It meant to work hard…but for me that mostly meant studying 24/7. This was a different kind of hard work. It meant staying out in the fields all day pouring sweat. It meant transplanting hundreds of plants. It meant bush hogging, plowing, fertilizing, and a thousand other things I never realized went into farm work. It was hard but seeing 100 acres of corn fully grown that you personally planted and tended to is the best feeling ever.

I Learned How to Be a Leader

My senior year, a good friend of mine kept pushing me to run for office. This was my first official year in FFA, but I had worked so many activities in the past, I might as well have been a member the whole time and deserved to at least interview for a position. The day of interviews, I was shaking nervous. But as I stood in official dress for the first time ever, I looked in the mirror and realized I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I got secretary, and I dedicated my whole year to being the best secretary I could be. I looked forward to meeting. I looked forward to planning activities with my fellow officers. I looked forward to wearing that blue jacket every single time.

It Made Me a Better Person

This is such a cliché line and I’m cringing a little right now just using, but it’s the truth. I left my senior year owing every good thing I had become to FFA, for all of the reasons I listed above and more. I have severe anxiety and FFA helped so much in that. I overcame my fear and participated in public speaking contests. I set goals and worked my butt off for them. I found a team of people who I loved, and knew I could count on for anything. I didn’t always like them, but I always loved them.

I learned so much about agriculture. I literally learned something every day in my Ag classes, which was a lot more than I could say for even some of my AP classes. I got to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when I saw our farm thriving or the flowers I had planted and nurtured in the greenhouse blooming.

Just like those flowers, I got watch myself grow and bloom: from a shy girl into a capable leader, hard worker, and person who knew she wanted and went after it.

Forever and always, I will believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds…