Conseco Fieldhouse packed with Blue FFA Jackets
I am typing this blog on my little netbook while I am sitting in a ‘session’ at the FFA National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. You might be wondering what that has to do with ThePiggPin.com. I am really glad that you have asked that question. In high school, I joined the FFA, and immediately found my place in life. The FFA taught me leadership skills and mechanical skills that I would have not learned so early in life, and it put me on a journey in life that I was not expecting to go. As I said in a previous blog, I had been cutting grass about all of my life, but did not know what ‘landscaping’ was. I was put on the Nursery and Landscape CDE contest team for my high school. I learned that landscaping would be a major love in my life and it taught me to that hard work CAN and WILL pay off in the end. We barely missed winning the state contest so we could compete in the national contest!
Being up here in Indy, with 60,000+ FFA high school members is very impactful! Knowing that most of these kids compete in all kinds of contest…public speaking, mechanical skills, plant and animal judgings, etc. is very encouraging to me. These kids are taking classes at school anything from tractor repair, to vet science, to leadership, to floriculture, and my favorite, greenhouse management. The vocational agriculture departments, in my opinion, are teaching our teenagers more about success than just about any other subject available to them.
Agriculture in the US, especially processes like milk production, is so far advanced that other countries are now coming here, asking for Americans to travel to their countries to head up their industries because they see the need for upgraded facilities. It kind of makes me sad when I see people and groups try and hinder our abilities to practice agriculture and grow and expand our technologies in order to keep our country safe and fed. (sorry, that was my soap box for today!)
Happy FFA
FFA Jacket
