VSCO beaub12 Journal An Open Letter to FFA Members Beau Barrilleaux
It's all going to fly by. One day you're picking out your first animal, or zipping up your blue and gold official dress jacket for the first time, and in that moment it doesn't seem like that big of a deal because instead of thinking to yourself "wow I only have a few years of this, I better cherish all the moments I have", odds are you're thinking how tired you are and how you wish your advisor let you come an hour later. Take it from me, even though you think to yourself you have plenty of time in this amazing organization, I promise you it's not enough.
Don't hold back. If I could preach anything to an FFA member, whether it's a greenhand, or it's a senior whose been raising and judging for years, I would still tell both of them to not be afraid of failure. If you're scared to fail, then you're going to be held back from a lot of things in your FFA career. If I let my fear of looking like a complete idiot and getting last place when considering raising my first pig, then I would have never be where I am today which is planning on attending college on a scholarship to show pigs this upcoming fall. You have to realize while yes there are sometimes you may fail, and for some they may fail more than they succeed, it's not really about the immediate gratification you get from winning a buckle, or winning a banner, because in the end banners will fade and buckles will rust, but the only thing that stays with you is not the awards, but the work ethics you learned, the people you met and the memories that you made while earning those awards.
Find a mentor and be a mentor. While growing up, you always saw super heroes on TV, and looked at your parents and said "mom I want to be like him/her one day", and let's be honest, your greenhand year there was that one older member that seemed to have everything figured out, and always seemed to win at every show they went to and every judging competition they judged in. Don't be scared to go up to him/her and ask for advice, and if you're the upperclassman that others look up to, remember where you came from, and don't be so quick to shoot down or poke fun at a greenhand asking for help. If it weren't for a few upperclassmen offering me rides and encouraging me to go to everything FFA related that they possibly could I probably wouldn't be nearly as involved as I am today in this amazing organization. You never know what someone is going through, and you asking someone to go to a chapter meeting, or a barn work day could mean the world for them, and light a fire in their heart with a love for agriculture.
You're NEVER too cool Be an example to others, put yourself out there and show them that even though it might seem dorky to run around and scream and shout, it's not. Show them that they can be comfortable around their "FFAmily" and they won't be judged. You're not going to sit back and remember the FFA events where you sat back on your phone hiding from possibly having to make yourself look stupid in front of your chapter, but instead you will always remember( and probably continually reminded by your teachers and friends) about the meetings where you put yourself out there and did something crazy. I promise you, if you hold back because you don't want to look uncool you will regret it later on when you would do anything to be able to zip up your official jacket one more time and be able to play the infamous dating game in front of the whole Area 3( or whatever area you may be from). Trust your teachers, they're there for you.
Nobody in the entire FFA world has your back like your teachers do. Yes you have your family, but let's be honest does your mom really have the capability of helping you pick out the grand champion pig, or can your dad really help you remember that 5 minute speech you have to give in front of 200+ people the next day? The answer 99% of the time is no, but lucky for us FFA kids we are blessed with some of the best helpers we could ever ask for, and those are what we call our advisors. Ag teachers really are one of a kind, because I don't think you find yourself texting your World History teacher and 9 P.M. on a Friday night saying "Hey I think my pig is having a prolapse", and they reply within minutes with some kind of remedy that they have been using for years. Ag teachers are the reason our chapters run, and honestly a huge reason this organization is as amazing as it is. No matter what happens like parents, Ag teachers will ALWAYS have your back, and always have your best interest in mind, they are like the second parents you never asked for because they are so crazy.
Senior Year From the first day of school till the time you retire your official dress jacket to never put it on again time flies. One day you're a small greenhand unsure of what's to come in the next four years and then the next thing you know you're officially a "has been". Your senior year is one of the most bittersweet things that will ever happen in high school because you start to realize almost everything you do, you're doing it for the last time ever, so in your senior year make sure you don't hold back. Work your animals a little harder, study for your LDES
or CDES a few extra minutes, do whatever it takes to make sure you don't have any regrets, because there is probably nothing worse than wishing and knowing you could have done a little bit better, if you would have just worked a little harder. My parting speech. The FFA has taught me more in these four years more than anything else could have, from time management to responsibility for something other than myself, and I will always preach my love for the organization because of that. While you still have the time, make the most of it, work as hard as you can, always remember to thank your parents and Ag teachers, because if it weren't for them you wouldn't be able to do the things you do. Thank you especially to my parents for always being there for me, pushing me hard in everything I do, and most importantly being my biggest fan base whether I'm walking out of the show ring with a first place banner or last. Thank you to this amazing organization that has molded me into a driven young man who has his life set and goals to achieve, I will forever be indebted to it.
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