FFA's Impact on Me
FFA’s Impact On Me
Cassie Moody, Middleton FFA
Hi everybody! My name is Cassie and I am a sophomore at Middleton High School. FFA has impacted me in so many different ways, but President Trump said it best while speaking at the 2018 National FFA Convention. “Your time in the FFA, in the field, on the farm, on the land and in the classroom has not only prepared you for a stellar, great career in something you love, it’s taught you essential truths about life and about the world in which we live. You know that success only comes through hard work and perseverance.” To sum it up, FFA has helped me to find my passion for agriculture and leadership, given me so much more confidence in myself, and introduced me to some of by best friends and mentors.
First of all, FFA has truly helped me to find what I want to do in my life. Before joining FFA, I wasn’t sure what profession or field I wanted to go into. However, after a month of being in FFA I realized that whatever I do in life, it has to be connected to agriculture. I am so passionate about advocating for agriculture and being a leader in the agricultural community and I never would have realized that if it wasn’t for this organization.
In addition to finding my passion for agriculture, FFA has helped me to find my passion for leadership. I had been in a few leadership positions before in 4-H, but I have learned so much about what it truly means to be a leader in FFA. Being able to serve on my chapter and district officer teams has been such a blessing. However, the best part of it all is being able to connect with other members and watch them grow and succeed!
Next, FFA has given me so much more confidence in myself. I’ll never forget when two of the older members in my chapter and my advisor told me to join the Ag sales team. The whole time they were talking to me all I could think was that I had no clue how to sell anything, I don’t even know what this CDE is, and this is WAY out of my comfort zone. Luckily, I had an awesome team to teach me and push me to be my best. After a lot of hard work, and a lot of practice on my sales presentation (shoutout to my parents for listening to that 10,000 times) we won the district and state competition! This experience turned out to be super rewarding and gave me so much more confidence in my skills and abilities. It also taught me that when you work hard, apply yourself, and surround yourself with awesome people, anything is possible.
Finally, FFA has introduced me to some of my best friends and mentors. Who knew that by joining the Conduct of Chapter Meetings team I would gain some of my best friends! Or that by being a district officer I would not only gain five teammates and friends, but so many others through those five people. And lastly, that I would meet awesome people that I get to look up to and get some pretty stellar advice from. This really is the best part of FFA. Gaining friends who believe in you and are always there for you. By being in FFA, you truly do have 653,359 friends that you can count on. Never forget that the Blue Jacket connects us all!
So, the moral of the story is to get involved! FFA has so much to offer you. Find some awesome people, join a CDE team, or just take one step out of your comfort zone. You never know where that one step will take you!