Work Smarter, Not Harder

College is expensive; whether you’re going to a trade school, community college, or university, in-state or out of state, private or public, there’s no denying it. Post-secondary education, as useful and important as it is, can really put a dent in your pocketbook. As a first year student at Iowa State University, I am well aware of the struggles of affording college. While I don’t claim to be a scholarship expert by any means, as someone who graduated high school with nearly $40,000 in scholarships I also know there are a lot of opportunities to ease the financial burden of the next step in your life. Here are some of my best tips:

Get organized. I know how busy your senior year can be: planning commencement with your class, figuring out details for your graduation party, enjoying the “lasts” of all your extracurriculars, working a part-time job, getting good grades, and trying to be a kid and an adult at the same time. Things can easily get lost in the shuffle of your last year of high school, so organization is the key to earning as many scholarships as possible. Whether this organization is physical or electronic, or both, figure out a system that works for you to keep track of due dates, applications, essays, transcripts, and other important information.

One thing I did to keep my scholarship hunt on track was create a “Scholarship Notebook” using Microsoft Word’s Notebook template. I used this organize general information that many scholarships ask for in one tab, like estimated college cost per year, University  ID, high school GPA and class rank, standardized test scores (like the ACT, SAT, or COMPASS), and your school’s address. I also used tabs for scholarships I still needed to work on, applications that needed signatures or mailed, applications I had competed, and scholarships I was awarded.

Use all your resources. The most common thing I heard from my classmates regarding scholarships was “I don’t know where to look for them.” There are so many places to find scholarships and grants, you just need to open your eyes! Here’s just a handful of the places I used to find free money:

·      My high school guidance counselor was a wonderful resource. The guidance counselor is usually the person who receives scholarship information from people and clubs in your community. They also went to school to help you go to school!

·      Your college/university/trade school’s financial aid website is another great place to find scholarships. Even if you receive an automatic award from your school, you can, and should, look for other scholarships through your financial aid office because they are completely different. I can only speak for Iowa State’s site personally, but I do know they have a lot of great resources, and with only a few quick searches it was easy to find similar information for schools like DMACC, Kirkwood, Indian Hills, NWMSU, and SDSU. Often times money distributed by your school requires little effort compared to other scholarships, so it’s definitely worth a look.

·      The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA, is not the most exciting application to fill out. However, not only can you receive some money directly from the application depending on your financial situation, many scholarships also require you to prove you filled the application out. If you live in Iowa, your FAFSA will give you the option to fill out the Iowa College Aid application after you complete it. Do this as well!

·      Scholarship search engines, like Fastweb, Unigo, or Scholarships.com are another place many people forget to look for scholarships. These websites can open your search up to a national and global level.

Ask for some stellar letters of recommendation. I would say over half of the scholarships I applied for required at least one letter of recommendation or character reference. My best advice on this topic is to ask the people you want to write for you as soon as possible. Not only is it more courteous to them, there’s also a pretty good chance you will get a better letter because they had more time to craft it. Also, don’t be afraid to send them an academic resume or list of activities you’ve been involved in when you ask them to write for you. Even if they know you very well, they may forget what you’ve done throughout high school. These lists will help them write the best letter possible. Some of the people you may want to ask for letters include:

·      Guidance counselor

·      Principal or superintendent

·      FFA advisor

·      4-H leader or county extension employee

·      Coach, band director, or other extracurricular leader

·      Employer or supervisor

·      Professional contacts you may have (One of mine was from the Iowa Soybean Association, for example)

·      Pastor, priest, or other contacts from your church

Apply, apply, apply! Seriously, unless the scholarship is restricted to Aerospace Engineering majors and you are going to school for English, apply for anything that comes down the pipe. I know many of the people reading this are probably interested in some sort of agriculture or life science major. While there are a lot of scholarships in that area, don’t be afraid to look into more general opportunities that aren’t major specific. I applied for a scholarship that I “wasn’t going to get,” and I got $800 out of it, so never be afraid to apply for something you don’t feel quite as confidently about. On that same note, don’t discount the scholarships that only award $250, $500, or even $1000. Aside from the automatic awards I received from ISU, only two of my scholarships were $2000 or more; the smaller amounts are really what add up. My guidance counselor explained it best: if you spend 2 hours on a scholarship that is $500 and you receive it, you just made $250 per hour. Now, unless your part time afterschool job pays $250 an hour, I’d say those smaller scholarships are worth it, too.

Scholarships are the best way to ease the financial burden of furthering your education after high school. With a little bit of researching, and some effort, you can completely transform how you pay for college in just a few months!

Emily Campbell

Agricultural Studies, Iowa State University

Past Southwest District Reporter

Don't Blink

Have you ever listened to the song “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney? It was always one of those songs that would come on the radio and I would start singing along with it. However, have you ever thought about the lyrics. I never took the time to until I became a senior in high school.

“Life goes faster than you think, don’t blink”, is the ending of the refrain.  Senior year was a blur. I had experienced being a cheerleader for my two favorite sports, basketball and football, with a great squad for the last time; helping with my high school play for the last time; my last golf tournament, prom, banquet with my FFA chapter, and showing my horse at county fair all this year. The hardest one for me to leave was the Two County Dusters Equestrian Drill Team. I have been part of this drill team for four years, which to be honest isn’t very long, but it was something I loved with all my heart. The last performance we have is the Sidney Iowa Rodeo, which is in the beginning of August. The rodeo is always my favorite part of the summer and riding in the Dusters just made it even sweeter. The Two County Dusters is a group of riders from 4^th- 12^th grades preforming patterns to patriotic music. These patterns didn’t only move the fans watching, but also me. The riders in the Dusters weren’t only some of my greatest friends, but they became a second family. Every year new members would come in and us as the older members would have to teach them how to do the pattern. For me it was never a burden, because it always amazing to watch them develop into great riders just like Dusters had done for me. The last night of the Sidney Rodeo was hardest. That night we had received t-shirts that said all five of the senior’s names and horses, that way we could always support the Dusters. It was also the last night that I got lead the Dusters in the pattern with my best friend, Kaitlyn. During the performance I started to cry. I started to cry because not only was this my last time to ride with the Dusters, but mainly I was so thankful for the experience I had. The Two County Dusters changed me in several ways. It taught me how to become a better rider, a better leader, and overall a better person.

High school offers so many opportunities like this one and sometimes it’s hard to see that. It was hard to see that everything I did helped my grow as a person. Seniors and Juniors, I know you’re ready to graduate, but remember to sit back and take it all in. These are truly once in a lifetime experiences and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Be thankful for the chances you have and the lessons you learn, because they fly by. I would like to thank my Duster family for all of the love and support and I wished that I would have known the lesson that I know now. The lesson of that “life goes faster than you think, so don’t blink”.

Annie Wallin

State Reporter

9 Things You Have to Do at the National FFA Convention and Expo

9 Things You Have to Do at the National FFA Convention and Expo

With National Convention starting only a few short days from now, FFA members are getting excited about the chance to travel to Indianapolis and spend some time there rockin the blue corduroy. For some this may be our first convention experience, while for others this could be our 5th convention and we’re receiving our American Degrees. Whatever our experience, there are plenty of options for us to choose from to have the best convention ever! In fact, our state officer team has a few things you have to check off your convention to-do list!

Zach: It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again where roughly 60,000 of our friends in the blue jacket are frantically packing their suitcases, letting their teachers know they’ll be missing that math test and rescheduling, and strapping in for a long car ride with their pals in their chapter. While we may be traveling with some of our friends, some of us may be excited to meet friends that we’ve made through the organization. This has always been the case for me, getting the chance to meet new people from around the nation and make new friends. In fact, I made one friend in particular who I ended up spending a lot more time with than I ever would have expected. I had been tweeting at a random kid from Iowa about how we both did some serious last minute packing. Somehow, we ended up meeting up at convention and have been friends ever since. In fact, we even became state officers and college roommates together. You never know the impact the people around you may have on you, so take the time to make some new friends while you’re in Indianapolis!

Peyton: National Convention is a great opportunity to start looking ahead to your future and interact with potential colleges! Great schools of a variety of sizes and locations will be in Indianapolis. Take advantage of this chance to interact with them, learn more about their programs, and explore whether they might be a good fit for you. This is the ideal place to visit with these colleges. The representatives that schools send to National Convention are usually familiar with FFA (often even past FFA members), and will probably be able to relate very well to your experiences and interests. This is especially true if you’re interested in studying agriculture. At many other career fairs, the representatives from a school are most likely not as familiar with the agricultural program at their college as they will be here. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with the colleges that I was interested in about their agricultural programs, especially schools located out of state that I hadn’t gotten to interact with before. Whether you head to Indianapolis with future programs in mind, or simply take some time to explore the aisles full of colleges, definitely explore this resource available at convention!

Annie:

When I went my Sophomore year in High School, my favorite part of the National Convention was the World’s Toughest Rodeo. There were great riders for both broncs and bulls that you couldn’t help but stand up and cheer. Not to mention they also had great acts that would either make you bust a gut laughing or gasp from the daring tricks that bullfighters perform. You also got the chance to meet people from across the nation who love FFA just as much as you. I recommend if you have time to head on over to the World’s Toughest Rodeo, because they sure know how to have a Wild West good time!

Rachel:

After attending my first National Convention my sophomore year of high school I have always looked forward to revisiting the National FFA Expo. This giant hall is filled with businesses from all over the nation who come to hand out a lot of free stuff and have a vast amount of fun activities to participate in! Although these freebies and activities are awesome it’s also great to find out what companies are doing to improve agriculture and many of our future career paths outside of our great state of Iowa.

Cassie:

Student leadership workshops are definitely something you won’t want to miss out on this year! I had never gone to a workshop previous to my junior year, and my advisor finally convinced me to go to one. Once I got there, I wished I had attended them every year! I learned so much about ethanol and renewable fuels, and it opened my eyes to a whole new sector of agriculture. I felt like I had much more information under my belt to be a better advocate for our industry!

These workshops always have not only amazing themes, but amazing facilitators as well! Our past Iowa FFA State President, Elisa Russ, will even be leading some sessions on why we need more ag teachers, and how we can make that happen in her “#TeachAg” workshop. The workshops range from leadership, to skills, to industry information. Some highlighted workshops that I thought were interesting were: “Let’s Parli!”, “Ever See an Arc Welding Robot? Come Check it Out”, “#SpeakAg”, “U.S. Army Food Science Careers: Food for the Force”, “Your Own Right Way”, and many more! Check out the full list here: 2017 Student Leadership Workshops

Caleb: There’s this hidden gem at convention that I found my Sophomore year! It’s called the FFA Shop!! I have acquired half my closet from this place.  They have everything you would ever need.  From T-shirts to the best gifts for your advisor; I’m pretty sure they have every piece of FFA Swag ever created.  It contains T-shirts with the corniest FFA jokes.  Now you may be thinking, “Caleb that’s the place with long lines” but let me tell you.  Those lines go super quick and it’s worth the wait in line to get the best FFA Swag for the year!  Put this on the top of your “convention bucket list” to make sure you get exactly what you want before they run out!

Carli: Getting to attend National Convention my senior year was an absolutely amazing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Sadly I almost skipped out on the opportunity. The day my chapter was leaving was also the same day as our first regional volleyball game my senior year. As a four year varsity member and now senior, making the decision to skip out on potentially the last game of my career was one extremely difficult decision to make. National Convention turned out to be an opportunity of a lifetime where I gotta socialize and interact with so many amazing people. My favorite part of National Convention was walking around the Expo and talking with people from every state. I used the Conference booklet to track what states I had met with and loved the challenge of talking to random people from so many different backgrounds. National Convention was my connection to so many other members that had the same passion for FFA as me and the overall experience showed me that even when decisions are tough, you'll always know the right decision in your heart.

CD: My favorite part of national convention each and every year is the keynote speakers. As a guy who really enjoys a good story these are some of the best to listen to. From the national officers retiring address to the speakers that a brought in from all over the world to speak the motivational speeches will make you want to get up and make the world a better place, appreciate your friends and family, and touch on life lessons that take years to learn. My favorite speakers are always at the national convention every year and I look forward to seeing and hearing the stories this year as well.

Ally: Something that’s always on my bucket list: getting a picture with some super cool, giant FFA letters! These giant letters make a great photo prop and can be pretty fun to get creative with. Also- they show off your passion for FFA in big way! Be sure to find them at National Convention this year!

Forget the Perfect Bow

          Christmas is coming, y’all. I recently walked through the aisles of Target, seeing about 10 different Christmas trees to choose from, accompanied by dozens of boxes of wrapping paper. I know, I know, it’s not even Halloween yet… but bear with me. I ended up in five more aisles that night with bags for birthday presents, more wrapping paper, and some of the world’s coolest Nerf guns I have seen. Then, I began to notice all the signs in the store that said the word “gift” on it, and I counted over 14 by the time I made it to the checkout counter. I don’t know if it was simply just an accident to see all of those signs and gift-giving supplies that night, but as my cashier handed me my receipt, it clicked. Gifts.

            How powerful is it to know that each one of us, regardless of the point of life we are at, have such a unique, beautiful, and influential gift that we have been given? And no, while the gift of a giant Nerf gun would be absolutely awesome, I’m talking more about the gifts we’ve been given from the One who knows us best. The gifts of empathy, charisma, listening, observation, connection, entrepreneurial spirit, adaptability, coaching, patience, the list could go on! Knowing our purpose through our gifts is one of the most freeing things as humans we will ever come to know, but for many of us, we get tangled up by one word: Perfection.

            Think about wrapping a gift for a second. Generally, presents either come in a bag with cute tissue or wrapped in paper with the perfect creases, bow, etc. Hallmark has absolutely set the standard for gift-giving, and I fall short of that immensely. I have practiced my gift-wrapping a number of times, but every time, I think to myself, “Man, my dog could wrap this gift better than me.” No different than my incapability of nicely wrapping gifts, I think we easily lose the purpose when it comes to giving gifts, or giving away our own gifts. The point of a gift is to help somebody or make them happy, correct? Isn’t that the point of our gifts too?

“But what if I say something wrong?” This is the worry that took over my thoughts this fall throughout prepping for National FFA Convention. Between interviews, speeches, conversation and more, I was paranoid that what I had to say wasn’t going to be good enough, pretty enough, powerful enough. Reality? Some of the best practices I experienced were the practices where I owned imperfection in the form of mispronounced words, awkward sentences, hand movements and all. I knew God had given me a positive attitude and the ability to connect with all types of people, but my ability to share that with others became extremely inaccessible when I believed that perfection was in my own hands. We get caught up in the perfect bow and the deceiving outer wrapping paper, but when we focus solely on that, we miss the point. When we focus solely on how we appear to people, we miss the point. We miss the opportunity for impact, connection, and community. 

Do not waste your gifts. If there is one thing that I hope each one of you as students, members, parents, adults, grandparents and community members can see, I hope that you see yourselves as a vessel for change. A vessel for loving your community and the peers around you. You are one of seven billion contenders in our world to fight the good fight, and the only way the battle is won is by using your own gifts to the best of your ability. Your gifts are invaluable. You are invaluable. The price of perfection has already been paid for you, and it’s your turn to own imperfection. Forget the pretty bow on top, peel back those layers of wrapping paper, and let the world see your gifts. The world NEEDS your gifts!      

Erica Baier

National Officer Candidate