农业+生活方式

成为一名国家FFA官员是什么感觉?

发布于2018年4月25日12:00 AM

采访John Holcomb，多媒体记者

Where did you grow up and how did you get involved with agriculture? 

我在哈希拉长大, 乔治亚州, and kind of the way that I got in agriculture was really on my family’s farm back home. I come from a third generation purebred Charolaise operation, and I really started working out there just as soon as I could walk. I remember sitting on the tractor with my grandpa working in the fields. When I got into the sixth grade and when I got into the National FFA Organization, 是我真正投身农业的时候吗. I had the opportunity to have an SAE project and do several different things as part of that, and that’s really what got me really involved in my family’s farm and that’s really what kind of sparked that passion of mine in my life. 

谈谈你的FFA之旅. 

我在六年级的时候加入了FFA. 乔治亚州有中学FFA, 这不是全国都有的事吗, but it’s a really good opportunity that we have in our state, 我加入了Hahira中学的FFA. 我真的是刚刚参与进来的, because my dad suggested that I take an AG-ed class and in taking an AG-ed class, 你加入FFA. 我的AG老师让我参与进来的. 我做过几次公开演讲, 我开始展示家畜, and really when I got to the s事件h grade and into high school, 我开始参加农业科学博览会, and that’s really kind of when I found my stride in the FFA I guess. I was one of the first people to prove that you could take a digital infrared laser at a thermometer and use that to take accurate temperatures of livestock animals, 这是一个非常好的节省时间的方法, 对动物有很好的人道待遇, 还有很多不同的东西与之相结合, and that’s really the bulk of what I did through the FFA, 是那个研究项目吗. I went through several different studies, and several different trials with it. 最后我设计了自己的温度计, 在此背景下做了很多研究, and I would say those kinds of areas of the FFA is where I got the most involved, 这就是公开演讲的一面, 我当过几次地方警察, 我在2015-2016年担任国务秘书. 事情的两个方面, 农业科学博览会, leadership and public speaking is really kind of lead me to where I am today. 

你在这个新职位上的职责是什么? 

So, the national FFA organization is one of the largest student led organizations in the nation, and I am one of six student leaders for this organization. 我是佐治亚大学的大三学生, so I’ll be taking a spring semester and a fall semester off, and I’ll spend about three hundred days of the next year on the road. 我将旅行超过十万英里. I’ll do somewhere in the neighborhood of about sixty-five facilitated workshops, whether that’s going to a school and teaching a lesson in a classroom, or that’s putting on a conference for some state officers from all across the nation. I’ll keynote about one hundred different 事件s throughout the year. So, that could be things like visiting with a sponsor or speaking at state convention. 

What did it feel like when you were announced that you had been elected? 

这是一个非常难得的机会. 你知道, 深入研究, 我们在那里待了大约一个星期，差不多做了13次, fourteen different interviews to try to get the opportunity to serve as a national officer. So, 深入研究, there were about twenty-two of us still left as part of that process, 他们只选了6个, so it was a pretty nervous time for me leading up to that announcement. It was an amazing opportunity and I’ve really been blessed to get the chance to serve as a national officer. So, it was a pretty, pretty incredible moment for me, that’s for sure. 

Did you ever think you would make it to where you are now? 

So, 大概从七年级开始, I always knew that trying to run for national office was something that I wanted to do. 这些年来，我这么做的原因改变了很多, and I always knew that I had the ability; it was just a matter of taking advantage of that opportunity. So, it’s something I’ve worked really hard for a really long time to get here, but up until that moment when they called my name out and I got to run up on stage, 我真的不确定这是否会成功. 

What do you think will be the biggest challenge for you? 

I think one of the biggest challenges I’ll face over the next year is the number of the hours that I’m going to be working, 和我要走的英里数, 和不同群体的学生见面. I could be in a classroom in Arkansas one day and giving a key note speech at a state convention in California twenty-four hours after that. 我去的每一个地方, 以及我遇到的每一组学生, I’m going to have to be one hundred percent there for them, 即使我已经离开了2个, 三小时的睡眠. The biggest challenge to me is going to be bringing that energy and bringing that passion for every single student that I meet along the way. 

你最期待的是什么? 

The thing I’m looking forward to the most is just the opportunities I’m going to have in front of me in the next year. I’m going to be on the road for three hundred days out of the next year, so each and every day is going to bring a new opportunity and a new challenge and a new way for me to grow, and a new opportunity for me to go out there and make a difference, 无论是对赞助商来说, 无论是参观学校, or whether it’s just taking time to talk to a fellow member. 我觉得最让我兴奋的是, and I’m most looking forward to are the opportunities that I have in front of me as a national officer. 

你在这个新职位上的目标是什么? 

I think the big goal that I really have is just help successful people be successful. This organization has probably one of the widest ranges of opportunities for our members, 作为一名国家官员, I really want to help our students take advantage of all those opportunities and be as successful as they can possibly be. 所以，这是否意味着帮助别人在C中竞争.D. 事件, whether that means helping somebody write a speech when they’re trying to run for area or chapter office, I just want to be there and be available to our members to help them take advantage of every opportunity.