A New Chapter

Have you noticed? The National FFA Organization has a new emblem! In the recent months FFA has updated their emblem to adapt to the ever changing technology and promotion buzz. For some they can’t even tell the difference until the old and the new are shown side by side. This emblem revamp relates well to my life and many other FFA members and non-members alike. With chapter banquets, Minnesota State FFA Convention, and graduation fast approaching change is on the horizon.

The changes in the emblem are subtle but yet make a difference. The emblem has not been redesigned from scratch, just like us starting a new chapter in our lives we are not starting over. We like to think chapter because it relates to a book, we are turning a page in our life to a blank piece of paper but yet we are not starting over. We have pages and pages of our life that we can look back on and that has provided us with great knowledge, skills, and connections. Our previous pages and

chapters help guide us through our uncharted future. For me after this year’s state convention I will be laying down my FFA jacket and starting a new chapter in my life but I will always have the things I learned from FFA to guide me. For members, maybe it’s starting a new year in school, getting a job, starting your FFA experience, or laying your own FFA jacket down like me. For parents and supporters, your child could be heading off for college, you maybe are taking on a different career, your family is expanding, or you’re nearing college graduation and preparing to face the real world. For many of us we are flipping the page to a new chapter, make the best out of it, build strong character and capitalize on your strengths.

The new FFA emblem embraces the new standards set by graphics and high-definition. The National FFA Organization realized the bar had been raised and they met that challenge. The bar or standards is being continuously raised in our lives and professions. Agriculture is a great example, the population never stops growing and as agriculturists we are always pushed to meet a higher

standard for food safety, wholesomeness, and much more. How are the standards being raised in your life? In mine it has been college; expectations academically are exponentially higher than before. With hard work and dedication, like the agriculture industry shows, we can meet the higher standards set for us like the FFA did.

Although the emblem has changed the meaning remains the same. My dad always says “There are two things in life that will happen for sure, change and death.” We can’t stop change in the world and in our own life, it is inevitable. The thing we can control is how we react to that change. When our life changes, either for the better or worse we always need to remember to stick to our roots, our values and morals. The FFA emblem is a prime example of that, over the years the colors and fonts changed and the words changed from Vocational Agriculture to Agricultural Education but the meaning is still the same. The eagle remains perched on top with the freshly plowed field and the owl in front of the sun rise, and the ear of corn all the way around. FFA is still an American agriculture student led organization. How will you adapt to the changing of chapters but stay true to your roots and character?

For the last time…

Stationed by the Emblem of Washington

Brady Wulf