Perfectly Imperfect

Over the past couple of months, I’ve driven countless miles down unfamiliar roads as I’ve traveled across the state of Iowa. Everywhere I go is slightly different, but has a uniquely beautiful view. Whether it was watching the sunset as I drove by lake Red Rock, seeing the snow sparkle in the high noon sun while on a state highway, the reflection of countless taillights in the bigger cities, or watching the sunrise over the rolling hills on my way down to Mount Ayr, I’ve been able to see some pretty beautiful sights. This love for nature’s beauty is something I got naturally.

Even at 103 years old, my great-grandma Doratha loved to paint. She painted everything, including snowy winter wonderlands, rustic farmhouses, trees filled with colorful fall leaves, and of course, all of the little critters that she saw roaming around outside. Each of her paintings were beautifully crafted down to the smallest and simplest detail. My favorite painting of all time was one she did of a raccoon. The little raccoon had big, round eyes and a full belly. He laid next to an empty watermelon rind and a couple remaining shiny black seeds. I was amazed by the detail in the little raccoon’s big, beautiful eyes and his happy little face.

Despite my love for nature and its inner beauty, I was never able to paint like my great-grandma. While trying to teach my cousins and me to paint, she used to tell us to look at the details because everything we see is made perfectly imperfect. Everything has its flaws, and that’s what makes it perfect. Even the tallest, widest, and most beautiful tree has missing limbs and broken branches. These broken and missing pieces don’t make the tree any less beautiful, but instead, make it unique and perfect. Just like how our battle scars and imperfections make us beautiful to those around us. We are perfectly imperfect, just like we were meant to be. Love yourself and embrace your imperfections.

Find the Beauty in Everything, 

Mickayla McGill 

2019-2020 South Central State Vice President 

Against the Odds

    Staring at the grey walls of the Scheman Building on Iowa State's Campus is a favorite pass time for extemporaneous speakers during state convention. Rumour has it, some of the best speakers to come through the competition have all participated in the age-old tradition of counting the specs on the walls waiting for their turn to prep their speeches. 

*A little about the contest: Extemporaneous speaking or Extemp for short is a contest we as an FFA offer to students for them to hone in on their ability to think on their feet and handle a wide range of agriculture topics. Contestants are presented three ag-based topics, they select one and are given thirty minutes to prep a four to six-minute speech based on the topic. Like any speech, there needs to be a beginning, middle and end all with a personal flare and research to back-up claims made. Students are allowed to have up to five materials such as a textbook, magazine or a notebook with printed off articles to help provide facts and sources for their speech.*

    My senior year of high school I sat in Scheman staring at the walls when a gruff stout man came in and slammed my notebooks of materials in front of me.

    “There’s something wrong with your notebook,” said the stout man with Jolly Ranchers on his breath.

    “Okay, and that is?” I replied puzzled. Did I overly care about my notebook? No, but it was one of those nice things to have just in case I had a brain fart.

    “You don’t have any page numbers.” I coulda swore it was Blue Raspberry on his breath but it was hard to tell.

    “I need page numbers?”

    “Yes. Do you have another copy?”

    “No.” Maybe it was Grape. Eh, probably a mix of both.

    “We’re taking your notebook from you. You can’t use it because you don’t have page numbers.”

    “Okay.”

    “Like now. We’re taking it now. You’re not going to get to use it for the competition.”

    “Great. Go ahead.” He seemed floored by my response. He must have been expecting a sob story, maybe for me to barter with him? Whatever he was looking for I wasn’t giving it to him.

    He glared at me, grabbed my notebook, and placed three notecards in front of me. I thought I heard him mumble “Good Luck” but I doubt it.

    Snatching the “How will Technology change Agriculture in the Future?” card I set to work on my speech. I was excited to simply be competing at state. My advisor and I had had multiple lengthy discussions about me competiting in this contest. The principle of more or less doing a speech improv style in front of a group of people who are clearly more informed on the subjects terrified me. Being one of two who competed at sub-districts I hadn’t put much hope in me getting past districts, yet here I was.

    Thirty minutes up, I collected my things and set out to the competition room with the Courtesy Corps member. Outside the doors, I was prepped by a kind woman on how it would work once I got in there. She led me in and in the audience was my family and advisor with some other members in there just to watch. In my head, I was setting the Over/Under on how long until they figured out I was flying by the seat of my pants on this speech.

    The speech felt solid, I conveyed my message and the audience seemed engaged. I couldn’t really ask for more. After being berated by the judge’s questions for five minutes I stepped outside. My family seemed shocked about me losing my notebook and my advisor chuckled a “Told you you could do it” to himself. Oh well, it was over now.

    Cut to later that afternoon, I found out I had gotten a gold! Holy cow! Up on stage in the bright lights, they called my name as the winner! To say I was surprised was an understatement.

    Why do I tell you this story? As I’ve traveled the state, interacted with members from all over, and seen where they’re all coming from a theme stands out to me. We sometimes get so focused on making sure everything “goes right” that we don’t appreciate what we have right in front of us. Life doesn’t play fair and the situations we find ourselves in can sometimes be overwhelming. But it’s what we do in those moments that define our character. I could have easily scratched myself from the competition then and there and walked away because things didn’t go according to plan. Heck, I could have told my advisor I wasn’t competiting that year and not even listened to him. But then I would have missed the ride, the adventure of competing with some of the best speakers in the Iowa FFA with only what I had learned in ag class and time spent in the barn to go off of. Yeah sometimes its uncomfortable and we don’t always win, but as Babe Ruth once said, “It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up.”

Go Get Em,

Chandler Jahner

State President

Me and the State Champion Plaque. Can you see the disbelief on my face?

Try a New Leadership Development Event!

Coming back to school after winter break is always difficult. Many high schools jump right back in at the end of the semester, making the weeks after break stressful and filled with getting caught up on work you swore you were going to do over break but didn’t and studying for looming final exams. 

During my time in high school, I also spent hours and hours in the weeks following winter break in the ag room, preparing for whichever Leadership Development Event (LDE) I was participating in that year. Whether it was reciting the creed over and over my freshman year to get my hand motions just right or researching hot topics in agriculture to prepare for extemporaneous speaking, I have some amazing memories of late nights and early mornings spent in my high school ag room preparing for contests.

Participating in LDEs was one of the most valuable, memorable and enjoyable parts of my FFA career. They made me more confident in my ability as a speaker and gave me experience sharing the story of agriculture. Sub-district contests are rapidly approaching for most of the chapters in the state, but it’s not too late to take advantage of some of the great opportunities these contests provide. In Iowa, there are nine LDEs that begin at the sub-district level for you to choose from. I have included descriptions of some of my favorites below.

Creed Speaking - “I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds…” This LDE is for members in seventh through ninth grade. Participants are judged on their ability to present all five paragraphs of the FFA Creed from memory and then answer three questions related to it. I participated in this LDE my freshman year of high school.

Extemporaneous Speaking - In this LDE, participants showcase their agricultural knowledge and ability to think on their feet by giving a speech and answering questions with limited prep time. To compete, members draw three agricultural topics and choose one to craft a speech on. They then have 30 minutes to prepare a four to six minute speech on the topic and are able to use 100 pages of resources. After their speech, participants answer five minutes worth of questions on the topic they just presented. I participated in this LDE my junior year of high school.

Prepared Public Speaking - Participants in this LDE write and deliver a six to eight-minute speech about a current agriculture-related topic. Members are allowed to choose and research their own topic and then put together a creative, informative speech. The speech is presented to a panel of judges, who score the student based on the speech’s content, composition and delivery. I participated in this LDE my senior year of high school.

Conduct of Meetings - The purpose of this LDE is to introduce members to parliamentary procedure as they learn how to conduct efficient meetings and build their communication skills. A team of seven students from one chapter demonstrate correct use of FFA opening and closing ceremonies. Members assume various officer duties (president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, reporter, sentinel and advisor) during the presentation that is evaluated by a team of judges. They are also asked to answer related questions as a team.

These LDEs also start at the sub-district level and descriptions of them can be found at these two links: http://www.iowaffa.com/leadershipcdematerials.aspx and https://www.ffa.org/participate/cde-lde/. (LDE descriptions above were created with the help of these resources).

Job Interview
Parliamentary Procedure
Ag Broadcasting
Ag Sales
Program of Activities

Take a step outside your comfort zone this year and try a new LDE! No matter the outcome, you will make memories and learn skills that will help you grow inside and outside of the classroom.


In Blue and Gold,

2019-2020 State Reporter

Grace Long

Giving the creed at my chapter's banquet during my freshman year.

Four generations of creed speakers from the Ballard FFA Chapter.

The Best Time of The Year

We are closing in on the most wonderful time of the year. Yes I know Christmas has passed, I’m talking about calving season! Calving season is the most strenuous yet rewarding time of year for most cattle producers. Getting up at the crack of dawn everyday, going from feeding to driving through cows, and going home late at night can start to wear down on producers. But seeing the calves grow from birth to yearling to sale time is the most rewarding thing in my opinion. Watching my calves run around in the middle of March in the snow covered fields and seeing them transform in feeder cattle the next year and watching their growth makes me feel like I did something important. Reasons like that are why I want to stay on the farm and continue to raise cattle.


But there is the stress that comes with cattle. Everyone knows that no two years are the same. Going from the winter of 2008 to 2019 there has been every type of condition known to man. These types of conditions can wear people down. The amount of sleepless nights followed by large amounts of work during the day can make producers extremely worn down. If you have cattle try to have someone cover your chores every once in awhile and catch up on your sleep. I myself have and will continue to spend the winter with little sleep and can tell you firsthand how hard it is to do this everyday. Take time to rest. The work will always be there, but you might not.


To all cattle producers in Iowa and across the U.S. I wish you a safe and successful calving season, and let’s pray for no snow.

To the Cowboy In All Of Us,

Tyler Comes

2019-20 SW State Vice President

A Fresh Start to 2020!

As the final days of 2019 wrapped up I began to reflect on what a great year it has been. We celebrated another inspiring year of FFA events, presented Paul Hassmen with his FFA jacket (Click Here to read that story), and celebrated 50 years of women in FFA (Click Here for media surrounding that event). We have been blessed by many sponsors, alumni, and our advisors. I am very thankful for all who provide us the experience to write our own story in the blue jacket, however, this year is over and we have a new path to walk down.

As we step into the new year and decade we have the opportunity for a fresh start. The new year looks different for all of us, for some, it is New Year’s Resolutions, for others it is a new set of classes at school, and for others, it’s a chance to set goals for the new decade. As we make our way back to school these next few days what are we going to change? Without change, we won’t see any progress in our goals and ambitions. What will the new year look like for you? I challenge you to answer these following questions!

This year I will focus on…
This year I will serve others by...
This year I want to get better at…

As I take the time to answer these questions, I can’t help but get excited for the new year! We have so much time to make new friends, discover new places, and make a difference. For me, the new year is always a time to set goals and start working! This year I am excited to start a new set of classes at Iowa State University, travel to new FFA chapters, and meet more FFA members. These new experiences will shape the start of my new decade. As Jonathan Estrin once said, “The way we spend our time defines who we are.” We are given 365 days to make a difference in the world. What’s stopping you?

Aspire to Inspire,

Shelby Westhoff

Northeast State Vice President