“Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, and Living to Serve.” This is the motto of the largest student-led leadership organization for students, the FFA. Little did I know as a freshman how much these words and the FFA organization would change my life. I began high school with the goal of blending in. As a teenage girl with learning disabilities, the last thing I wanted was to be at the center of attention for any reason. After joining the FFA in hopes of raising a cute little black-faced lamb, I soon learned my agri-science teacher had much bigger plans for me. While I will never be called a natural born leader, she saw the potential in me that I couldn’t. She soon convinced me to “just try” one activity and competition team after another. With each new adventure, my self-confidence grew. She was slowly pushing me to be a FFA leader.
I faced my fear of writing and public speaking by competing in the agriscience fair. I taught myself all of the science necessary to conduct a research project. Not only did I compete in the science fair, I won Grand Reserve in Botany at the San Antonio Livestock Show in 2010 and advanced to the National FFA Convention Science Competition in 2011. I soon realized, I was able to speak about my project publicly and the more I got in front of others the fear of public speaking began to dwindle.
Due to being uncomfortable or exposing my weaknesses and failures, I have always had a fear of being on a team where others depended on me. This apprehension quickly vanished when I joined the Floriculture team. I soon learned to trust others on my team. As a team member, I realized building relationships was a stepping stone for building trust even when you were vulnerable. I accredit team building and trust to our success. In fact, our team placed second in state in 2009, third in state in 2010 and ninth in state in 2011. This year as a team, we have been placing in the top 5 at each competition. This year, I finally realized one of my floriculture goals by winning 1st place out of 407 students at the 2012 Tarleton Invitational competition.
Through floriculture competitions, I found a passion for flowers. I have taken all the floral and nursery landscape classes available at my high school. I was employed by the local florist and now am operating my own small floral business. I have passed the Qualifying Exam for the Texas Master Florist Program. The Texas Floral Association normally does not allow high school students to apply to the Master Florist Program, but because of my extensive experience and knowledge they allowed me to take the Qualifying Exam. I am currently completing online classes in the Texas Master Florist program. After passing my final exam in June of 2012, I will be one of the youngest Master Florists in Texas.
In FFA, you will find we are all leaders everywhere you find us. You will find me leading in the wash racks at 6 am when it is 21 degrees outside. You will find me leading in the early morning LDE and CDE practices. You will find me leading in front of a crowd, giving a speech. You will find me leading at a calf scrabble, making sure if I can’t personally catch a calf, then I will make sure a friend does. You will find me leading at the barn, before the sun comes up and again before the sun goes down. You will find me in the flower shop completely filthy, covered with petals, but with a huge smile of accomplishment in the things that I have created with my own hands. As a leader in the FFA, I may sometimes be covered in mud, smell like a barn animal and be drenched in my own sweat, but no matter when or where you find me-I am always leading.
A born leader, I am not. Everything I achieve, I achieve though many hours of hard work. I have proven that I am a servant leader through my passion and determination. I relentlessly strive to overcome many of my fears by meeting them head on. I don’t believe in being good when you can be great. And where did I learn these things; the FFA.