By: America Isidro
Students at Laramie High School prepare to go to the National Future Farmers of America competition on Oct 26th.
Elijah Fletcher, a student and member of Future Farmers of America (FFA) in LHS, prepares for upcoming nationals.
FFA is a youth organization with multiple branches that promotes and supports agricultural education.
Fletcher said he will be heading to Indianapolis, IN next week for meat evaluation, and they will be in Indianapolis for a week.
“We have been meeting with the University of Wyoming meat coach for the last three months and we’ve been practicing every week, sometimes twice a week,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher and his teammates will continue preparing in class and with each other as well.
Fletcher’s commitment to the organization began when he wanted to prove to his father that he could do better than he did.
“In 8th grade, I started with the CDE competition of meats and I won that year for state but I couldn’t go to nationals that year because I was only in middle school,” Fletcher said.
He also said that for the last 3 or 4 years he’s been on the state team but they hadn’t won until last year.
Fletcher said that it’s not all that easy being in FFA.
And that the hardest part about being in this organization is the time and effort it takes.
“Putting the time and effort in for CDEs because you have to practice a lot to get good at it and to me, that’s the hardest part,” Fletcher said.
But at the end of the day, he appreciates what FFA has to offer.
Fletcher said that because of FFA he is a better person, and he has become more educated on topics.
“You get to learn and experience a lot of new things and educate yourself more on topics that you didn’t know much going into and now I know a lot more about,” Fletcher said.
He explains that FFA teaches life skills and is a great agricultural experience.
He also said he learned to get out into the community with other members and give back to the community.
Members of FFA contribute to the community by doing community service.
“We do a highway clean up and the governor also asks us to do canned food drives throughout the year,” Fletcher said.
He explains that every Halloween and every 1st home game for football they do a canned food drive, and they do an annual highway clean up.
Fletcher said that another reason he enjoys FFA is because of the team dynamic.
“We all work pretty well together and there’s a lot of joking around, messing around of course but we’re all pretty good friends,” Fletcher said.
He explains it is a cool experience.