#okffa

[ckdale13]

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun." -M.P.

[kenzietaylor1326]

Well, my second year in the FFA is accomplished, and I survived. My sophomore year was a success, even with my failures.

I started out this year with the most absolute best time of my life, Alumni Camp. I was blessed to meet multiple individuals, one of them being Allison Christian, the 2013-2014 Central District VP. I grew super close with each and every single one of them, I wanted to cry when I had to leave.

Chapter Officer Retreat was a major success. Lawson Thompson came, and we went over the basics for a successful chapter.

Next came AFR Speech Contest, COLT Conference, and my chapter’s first annual dodgeball tournament. The AFR Speech Contest was a learning experience for me. I spoke in front of my peers, and as nerve wracking it was, it was well worth it.

COLT Conference was exciting. When we were split into groups, my fellow officers and I, as well as many more chapter officers, were put with Joshua Haven and Garrett Reed. Even though Garrett broke a ceiling tile, I had more fun then you could imagine.

The dodgeball tourney, was, well, I don’t have to go into that, do I? Good, because I’m not.

I’m not going to go into everything I did, because I did anything and everything my chapter allowed me, so I’ll mention a couple more things, for my sake, and yours.

MFE is the next thing I want to talk about. MFE stands for Made for Excellence. MFE is for 8th, 9th and 10th graders. Me, being a 10th grader, was fortunate enough to attend MFE. And I had a blast. Even though it only lasted 2 days, I made some amazing friends. I never, ever thought that I could make so many friends, and learn so many new things. This year, I will not be attending MFE again, unfortunately. But I will be advancing. I will be attending ALD this year; which stands for Advanced Leadership Development.

I did so many new things this year. I tried out agronomy, showed for the first time, made it to the district speech contest, and much more. I attended state convention again, saw old Alumni Camp friends, and had the pleasure to be sang to by Alex Cash, who even danced for me.

This year has definitely been a success, and I’m beyond ready to lead my junior year as my chapter Vice President.

[kenzietaylor1326]

At the beginning of my freshmen year, I had no clue what I was getting myself into when I walked through the door of my Ag class. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared at first. First, we had a brand new teacher. Second, I'd never taken Ag before. See, I had the chance to take Ag my 8th grade year but passed. I didn't know the first thing about Ag, besides the fact that it dealt with animals. But I thought that was all it was.. Boy was I wrong!!

At the beginning of your freshmen year, there is this thing called the Greenhand Quiz. Only freshmen are allowed to participate in this. And I had no idea I was even doing the Greenhand Quiz until two days before!! Talk about being nervous and unprepared.. There is this girl in my class that was expected to win it all, so I wasn't that big of a deal, if I showed, hey I showed! I remember my name being called up there for the top ten.. My heart was beating fast.. I was nervous! Then the girl in my class, her name was called up there too. As we're going through the top ten, the girl in my class got a question.. WRONG!! She got the answer wrong! She ended up getting 9th place. I ended up getting 5th place. And I can say, I did good for only studying for two days, but I could've done better.

The next Monday, I met Barrett Powell and Kaylen Baker. It was amazing. They were nice and generous people, people I knew I wanted to be like. It was at that very moment I knew the FFA was just right for me. I loved everything it stood for, and I knew at that very moment, I wanted to be a state officer.

So the months entering, I did Dairy Foods, Ag 1 Qreenhand Quiz Bowl, Animal Science Quiz Bowl, Speech Contest, and even went to State Convention. It was so much fun. Getting to know my Dairy Food team better, my Animal Science Quiz Bowl team better, and my Ag 1 Greenhand Quiz Bowl team better made it all worthwhile. The fun rides in the Ag truck were great. Even getting to know people all around the state made the FFA a great experience! And I could never forget the bus rides with Drummond, and how much of a bond that my Ag 1 Quiz Bowl team bonded with their Ag 1 Quiz Bowl team.

Now, it's the end of my freshmen year and I get to make a new bond. A bond with my chapter officer team. These next three years, I know for a fact, are going to be FFA filled. And I know that if I hadn't done that Greenhand Quiz, I would've never fallen in love with such an amazing organization. And all I really have to thank is my Ag teacher, Mr. Johnson, who pushed me to do my best. ♥