FFA: Worth The Work

Going to the FFA National Convention was a life-changing experience. It was a long road to get there. I was on the Lincoln FFA Agricultural Communications team for two years before we made it to Nationals.

Mrs. Hale and Leah Greene came to me and told me they needed a web designer for their team. For those who don’t know, Agricultural Communications (Ag Comm for short) consists of two quizzes involving AP style grammar and a practical exam with each of the four team members doing either an opinion writing piece, a news writing piece, a website, or a video. We practiced hard and did our best to memorize the strange rules of AP Style. Still, that wasn’t enough and we didn’t make it out of state.

We all decided the next time would be different. After some group changeups because of graduation, we settled back in and went for round two. I was switched to video editing and we were ready to go. Back at state, we were all feeling good about our performance, and our hard work and dedication paid off and we were named State Champions. We qualified for the national competition.

We were able to relax over the summer and pick practice back up at the end of summer break. There were some long evenings, but it was worth it to succeed. It was finally time to drive to Indianapolis. We got there two days early so we could spend some time settling into the hotel, as well as getting in some last minute practice time before competition. We spent those next two days with our noses to the grindstone.

Finally, it was competition day. Because of our hard work, I was confident in my abilities. We all did our best and patiently awaited the awards ceremony. All but one of our team members had placed in the top 10 individually, as well as our team placing third place overall. At that moment, all the long nights and time spent studying were worth it.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Lincoln FFA members Maria Otero and Tania Ortiz are making dill pickles with farm fresh cucumbers in Food Science 2.