Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Wednesday Wisdom

"Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning."
Benjamin Franklin

While at the State FFA Conference this past weekend, I realized a quote like this has never been so true. I have never been so proud of a group of students. As a whole they really worked together, supported each other and were open minded to the new experiences.

I have talked about the summer I was first hired (read my last post), and how I took the officers on a day trip to San Francisco's Botanical Gardens. We spent the day creating goals, talking about growth and changes. One thing that I will never forget was the common goal that they no longer wanted to be a "joke" in the eyes of the section. They had felt so defeated by previous competitions and teachers that they were pretty much at rock bottom.

Over the past two years, I have had this overwhelming feeling that I need to compensate for their rough start in the FFA. Because at the end of the day, I want each of my kids to feel like they had a positive experience no matter how involved they were. So I pushed, prodded and practiced them until they thought I was crazy (well I am so....). This weekend many of those original goal setters, were pleasantly surprised and grateful for the success and achievements they received.

We had such an awe-inspiring four days in Fresno. I am so proud to say I had a student (or two) recognized on stage every day. That's huge for us....

However, there were some disappointments. My two speakers didn't make it to the semi-finals, my proficiency kids didn't win the state title and my CDE teams were not as polished as they should have been. While speaking with one of my kids about how he was disappointed with not winning his proficiency, I tried to remind him about all the growth him, and the chapter had gone through since his freshman year. He quickly came to the realization that never in his dreams did he think he'd even be on the state stage during his FFA career. He was recognized three times this year for his work--once for being our region's Star in Ag Placement, once for his Dairy proficiency and lastly, for his work as a Committee Chair.

This is big stuff... While I know he wished he would have done better, I couldn't be more excited for him. For a student who always wanted to be involved, but had no real clue, to now reading committee reports on a stage in front of 5,000 FFA members-- "He's kinda a big deal"

The growth that my kids have gone through in the last two years has been tremendous. Mostly because they are always working towards my lofty expectations. But more importantly, they are now creating their own high expectations... They no longer feel that they are a "joke", they are working towards making an impact on themselves, their fellow FFA members and now even on a bigger scale. Leadership at it's finest folks!
Success breeds success!
Getting kids to see not only their potential, but to recognize potential in others...

It makes my heart happy... I love my little boogers! Even when they make me crazy!
State Star in Agriscience!!! 
State Webpage Award Winner!!
Helping campaign for Steven!! 
They are just so stinkin cute!





Thursday, April 2, 2015

Serious Success

My first summer at Healdsburg I took five of the seven FFA officers to a day retreat in San Francisco at the botanical gardens. They spent  some of the day planning, creating goals, and working on a reflection of what worked previously and what they would like to do different. 

A common theme, among all of them was that they wanted to be taken more seriously on the sectional and regional level. They each had individual plans for how they thought that should happen, but having never been extremely successful themselves, they were so unsure about how to get there. 

Weren't they cute?! They look so tiny...

I figured out very early on, that the important thing for these kids was going to be figuring out how to make them the most successful in the shortest period of time. I decided that making them better leaders, more professional at events, and amping up their SAE's would be the quickest way to help them. Which would then allow them to seek out leadership positions in the section and region, while being recognized for their efforts with state degrees and proficiencies. 

I would really like to say it's been easy! It definitely hasn't... There has been a lot of paperwork, a lot of late nights, a lot of early mornings, a few tears, some arguing, and countless signatures (those damn applications). 

Seeing a kid's potential and pushing them just enough for them to realize that they can do it, is difficult. There's a fine line between pushing so they see their own potential and pushing them so far it creates resentment. Sometimes I still lose sight of this, and I have to stop, backup and reevaluate. 

Bottom line:
I want them to push themselves, 
I want them to be successful, 
I want them to be well-liked, 
I want them to be professional, 
I want them to be passionate, 
I want them to gain life skills, 
I want them to want it.

Last Saturday at our North Coast Spring Regional Meeting and State Degree Ceremony, my hopes and their hardwork came to fruition. The last two years of hardwork paid of... For me and for them.

My most proud moment was after we had collected 3 regional proficiencies (2 state finalists), regional star administrator, 2 state finalist speakers, 2nd place program of activities, and 6 state degrees... Both of my students slated for regional office were elected!! 

It was a great day for Healdsburg FFA, as a program, for the students individually and for me too (I know, slightly selfish). And the reason I feel like the day was so successful was not because of the ribbons, certificates, or plaques won... But because my kids finally felt like they had been taken seriously... That's a win all by itself! 

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand." -Vince Lombardi


They all were pretty awesome! And the looked sharp! 
State Degrees
Proficiencies
The 2015-2016 NC Regional Officer team (with my two kiddos!!)