ONE STAR CHAPTERS

ALABAMA:

George W.Long

ARIZONA:

Antelope;

Yuma

ARKANSAS:

Paris; PrairieGrove; Valley Springs

CALIFORNIA:LaPuenteValley

ROP COLORADO:

Eaton;Flagler; FruitaMonument;

Hoehne;PlatteValley;Valley

CONNECTICUT:

HousatonicValley

DELAWARE:

^Smyrna;SussexCentral FLORIDA:Columbia;IndianRiverSenior;

MooreHaven;

New

SmyrnaBeachMiddle;North MarionSenior;SebringSenior;SouthLakeSr.

GEORGIA:

ColquittCounty; Perry IDAHO:American^Falls;Meridian

ILLINOIS:Armstrong; Ashton;Barry;Bushnell PrairieCity;Cambridge;Eastland; Eldorado;

Georgetown Ridge Farm;Liberty;Manteno;

Midland; MidwestCentral;Newark;Normal;

RoanokeBenson;Taylorville;Warsaw INDIANA:BentonCentral; Carroll

@

Flora;

Delphi;Eastbrook; Heritage;MountVernon;

NorthPosey;

Owen

Valley; PrairieHeights;

Reitz;Rossville;SouthernWells;Southmont;

WesternBoone

IOWA:Algona; Bison; Charles^City;Edgewood;

Estherville;Humboldt;LinnMar; Louisa Muscatine;Marengo; MidPrairie;PrairieValley;

SibleyOcheyedan;St.Ansgar;Vinton;West Marshall

KANSAS:

ArkansasCity;Highland;Holton;

Inman;Neodesha;NorthCentral;Norton

KENTUCKY:

Apollo;Barren County;

Breckinridge County;ButlerCounty; Central Hardin;FultonCounty;JessamineCounty;

McLeanCounty;RockcastleCounty

LOUISIANA:BellCity;Midland;NorthCentral;

OakGrove;PecanIsland

MARYLAND:

^Frederick;FrederickCo.Career TechCenter; Walkersville

MICHIGAN: Perry;Unionville-Sebewaing

MINNESOTA:

Benson;BlueEarth;Fulda;

Kimball;LakeBenton;WatertownMayer MISSISSIPPI:Carthage;

NeshobaCentral;Seminary;

Weir

MISSOURI:Brunswick;

Cameron; Columbia;Gallatin;

Glasgow;KansasCityEast;

McDonaldCounty;Memphis;

MonroeCity;Mount Vernon;

Neosho;Princeton; Troy;

WellsvilleMiddletown

MONTANA:

Cascade

NEBRASKA:

Albion

NEVADA:

RubyMountain;

SilverSage

NEW JERSEY:

Allentown;

Piscataway These

FFA mem

NEW

MEXICO:Alamogordo; _the convention Animas;Aztec;Goddard presentation.

NEW YORK:

HamiltonCentral; Medina

NORTH CAROLINA:

ForestHills

NORTH DAKOTA:

Lisbon

OHIO:Amanda-Clearcreek; Anna;Ansonia;

Blanchester;CanalWinchester; EastClinton;

Eastwood;Fairbanks;Greenville;Johnstown;

Lynchburg-Clay;MadisonPlains;Margaretta;

Marysville; MiamiValleyCTC; OakHarbor;Otsego;

Riverdale;SentinelTiffin;Warren;Wauseon;West Holmes;West Muskingum

OKLAHOMA:

Canton;Cashion;Checotah;

Glencoe; Grandfield;Guthrie;Harrah; Hooker;

Idabel;Mooreland; Roland; Timberlake; Weleetka;

Yukon

OREGON:

CrookCounty; Perrydale

PENNSYLVANIA:

BerlinBrothersvalley;Cedar Crest;Conococheague; Greenwood; LenapeAVTS;

Manheim; Manor;SpudGrowers

SOUTH CAROLINA:

BeltonHoneaPath;Central;

FurmanManchester;Loris

SOUTH DAKOTA:

Bridgewater; Elkton

TENNESSEE:

Dyersburg;East Robertson;

Gordonsville; NorthKnox; Portland

TEXAS:

Booker;Brownsboro;Central;Clear Lake;

Cleburne;Columbus;Dayton; DelValle;Denton;

EastChambers;Fairfield;Gilmer;Hooks;

Jacksboro;KleinForest;Mansfield;McCullough;

McGregor; Nacogdoches;Navasota; Northwest;

OrangeGrove; Pleasanton; Raymondville;RossS.

Sterling; Sealy;SidneyLanier;Snyder; Tilden County;

Tom

Bean; TulosoMidway; Waelder UTAH:BearRiver; Davis;PleasantGrove VIRGINIA:Arcadia;FortDefiance;Holston Horticulture;James Wood;JohnC.Myers;Patrick Henry;Sherando; Turner Ashby;WalterS.

Newman WASHINGTON:

Chelan; Ferndale;MaryM. Knight;

Pasco;Snohomish;WallaWalla

WEST

VIRGINIA: BarbourCounty;Hampshire;

PineGrove;RoaneCounty;St.Marys

WISCONSIN:

Barron;BeaverDam;Black

Hawk

SouthWayne;Bloomer;FortAtkinson; Freedom;

Kiel;Madison;Menomonie;Montello;

New

Holstein;

Pulaski; Slinger; Stratford

WYOMING:

Buffalo;Riverside;Torrington

berswereproudtorepresent theirchapteron stage for ^the National Chapter

Awards

31

'-a Retiring Addresses

In the Light

SethDerner

National

FFA

President Bartlett,Nebraska

"Inthelight."

From

the

moment we

areborn,instinc- tively,

we

are

drawn

tolight.Forinstance,

when

^I

was

three years oldI

remember going

tothefuneralof

my grandpa.

^I didn't

understand what

all

was going

on,butI

knew

that

grandpa wasn't around

toplay with.I

could no

longersit

on

hislap

and

listen tohis stories

about ranching

intheold days.

Mom

tried to explainthat

he had gone

toa betterplace

and

^that

he

couldn't

come

back,

but

afuneralisa

hard

place forathree-year-old to

understand

life

and

death.

Sad and

confused,Isat quietlyinthe

second pew holding

her

hand and

leaning

on

dad's shoulder.

When we

stoodtosinga

hymn,

I

looked around and

realizedjust

how many people were packed

inthat tiny

church —

^the

^{whole county must have been}

^there.

Maybe

^it

was

the

mood

oftheday,or theblacksuits

and

dresses,or the

deep

colored wallsofthechurch, butthesanctuary

seemed

dark,like

we were

ina

cave below

the

ground. The

solesourceofbrightness

came from

light

through

astained glass

window

atthe front ofthechurch.

The

rays

from

the

sun passed through

the glass

and

created fascinating colors that

danced

across theair.

Those

colorsfell

upon

thefaces of

people who

satjusta

few

feet

away.

This

amazing sunbeam had

to

be

sent

from where grandpa now

lived.I

yearned

tosit

where

those lucky

people

had.I

wanted

to

be

inthe light that

seemed

to

come

straight

from Heaven

itself.Ijust

knew

thatifIsat therethen everything

would be

okay,

and

I

would

forget

about

thefear,theuncertainty

and

thesorrow.

The

light

through

that

window was

a

symbol

ofhope,a

beacon

of love

and understanding —

^that's

^where

^I

^wanted

^{to be.}

It

seems

likeI'vespentalotof

my

lifeseekingthelight.I

think

we

alldo.Fearof rejection,failure,despair

— ^we've

^all

experiencedthis

kind

of

darkness

in

our

lives.

At

times,I feltlikeI

was

theonly

person who

didn'tfitin,I

wondered why

I

was such

afailure,

and

Iquestioned

who

I

was and what

^Istoodfor.

You probably understand what

those feelingsarelike.

We ^spend

^alotoftime tryingtoleavethosefeelings of

darkness

behind.

We hang

out

with

the"right"

crowd. We

compromise what we

standforso others think we'recool.

We

don'ttry to

make

^adifference

because we would be

singledout

and

humiliated.

We ^pretend

^to

^{be happy,}

^yet,

when we

lookinthemirror

we

see a

mask

thathidesthe sadnessinside.

You know what, though?

Ibelievethat

we

truly

want

to

be happy, and each

ofus

wants

tobelievein

ourselves.

We want

to

laugh without

fear ofbeing

laughed

at,

and we want

tochase

our dreams and

realize

our

special talents.Ibelieve

we

all

want

tolovelife.

But how do you do

that?

Where do you

start?

How do you

leavethe

darkness behind and

step intothelightofjoy

and happiness?

Idon't

know

thefull

answer,

butIthinkI'vefigured out

where

it starts.Itallstartshereinthe heart. ^Itstarts

with

hope.

One

of

my

favorite storiesisaparable

from

the Bible

about

a

mustard

seed.

The mustard

seed,

you

see,is

one

of thetiniestseeds

sown,

yetthe

mustard

plantisahuge,full,

vigorous

plant.

The

parable explainsthat a

person who

lives

without hope

will

be

likeafield

without

plants

—

barren

and empty. However,

ifa

person

has hope,

even hope

as tiny as a

mustard

seed,itwill

grow and your

lifewill

be enormously

fullof love,

understanding and

strength.

I

witnessed

the greatest

example

ofthisthreeyears

ago

aspartofthenational

FFA

leadership

exchange program

thattraveledtoRussia.

We

spent three

weeks with Russian youth

inasmall

town

northof

Moscow.

Russia

was

suffer- ing

from

aseverely

depressed economy,

a

government

^that

few

citizenstrusted,

and widespread

crime.

One

day,I

asked one

of

my new-found Russian

friends

how

long

he thought

it

would

takethe

country

ofRussiatorebuild.

He

told

me

that

was

a

very hard

questiontoanswer.

"You

see,"

he

said,

"some have begun

torebuild,

while

others

have

not.

For those

people who

stillfeelsorryforthemselves,

blame

othersfortheir

problems,

orareafraid of

what tomorrow may

bring,itwilltakea

very

long timetorebuild.

Those

who

believein

themselves and our

country,

and who have hope

for

tomorrow —

^theyarealready building."

Hope

^forthefutureisatthe

foundation

of

world empires

and,yet,that

same hope

^isthe

foundation

for

our

personal

happiness and

success.

When we

begintolive

each day with hope

it

changes

everything.

We

^setgoals

and

believe they will

come

true.

We

enjoy,not dread,the

new and

exciting challengesof

each

day.

Nearly

sixyears ago,Igota first-handlessonof

hope

that

changed my

life.

On

^abittercold

December

night,

my high

school basketball

team had

lostyetanother

game. Mom and Dad were

in

Las Vegas

for theNational

Rodeo

Finals,soI

rode home on

thebus.

The bus

letusoff,

and

asI

walked

to

my

pickup,

two

ofthecounty'sfiretrucks turned onto the

highway

thatledtothe valley

where

Ilived.

There was snow on

the

ground,

soitcouldn't

have been

a prairiegrass

fire.I

assumed

that a pile of silageorbaleof

hay had caught

fire.Nevertheless,I

caught up with

thefiretrucksfiguringI

could helpa

neighbor

ifI

needed

to.I followed the trucks for

seven

miles, rightto

our driveway. And

asthey turned

down

the

two-mile path through our

ranch,

my

heart

dropped.

Ipulledinright

behind

the firetrucks to see

smoke

billowingoutofevery

window

of

our home.

Ididn't

know

what

todo.

No one was

inthe house,thankfully,but

what

about

all

my

stuff?

What about

allof

our

pictures

and

scrapbooks and

recordsoftheranch?I'dlived

almost my

whole

lifeinthat

house and now

it

was

a shell

consumed by smoke and

fire

caused by

a

malfunctioning

furnace.For

two hours

Isat

dumbfounded

as firefighters

worked, wishing

that

Mom and Dad

or

one

of

my

^brothers

were

there.

Finally, atthreeinthe

morning, amid

the

darkness and

sub- zero temperatures,I

was

exhausted.I

went

tostay

with my

aunt and

uncle

only

a

few

miles

away.

^Ifellasleep

wonder-

ing

what

I

was going

to

do and praying

I

would wake up and

^it

would

all

be

a

dream.

But

it

wasn't

a

dream.

I

awoke

thenext

morning

smelling of

smoke and

feelingsore

from

the basketball

game.

I

climbed

in

my pickup and drove

to

our

house.

Mom and Dad were

there.

They had somehow

gottenin early that

morning.

I

hugged them

foralong time

and

^IrecalledallI

could remember about

the

previous

night.^Ifiguredthey

would be angry about

everything

we

lost

with

the

house

or upset

about how

it

happened.

Ifthey

were

^Icouldn'ttell.

They were

justrelievedI

was

notinthe

house when

it

happened and

that^I

was

okay.

At

that

moment,

Irealized thatthe

most important

things in

my

life

were

not

my awards on

thewall or theclothes in

my

^closet.

^These

^thingscould

^be

^{replaced.Istill}

^{had many}

thingsthat

were much more

important, thingsthatcouldn't

be

replaced

— my

well-being,

my

friends

and

family,

and

the next

chance

to

make

a

new

friend, traveltheworld, take

on

a

new

challenge or

make

a difference.Istill

had

hope,

and

that'sallI

needed.

I'veseenthat

same

spiritof

hope

in

many

of

you

this year.It

was

inletters likethe

ones

Ireceived

from Dawn

in

New

Jersey

who shared

her

dreams and

goals.It

was

inthe excitementofthe

crowd

atstateconventions,likethe

one

in

Oregon

that

delayed

thestartof

every

session

with

their cheering.It

was

inthe dedication

and

service toothers

by

chapter

and

stateofficersacross the

country symbolized by

thestudentsofthetiny

town

of

Broadway,

Va.,

who came

togetherto

honor

afriend

and

fellow

FFA member who

left this

world

unexpectedly. This organizationis

overflowing with people who

believeinthe

power

of

dreams,

of

people

who have hope — ^people

^likeyou.

Thank you

forsharing

your hope with me

thisyear.

You've

continually

renewed my

beliefin

human

potential.I

have been

blessed

with

a

number

ofother

people who have

given

me

hope.

To my

family,

thank you

for

always being

there

no

matter

how

far

away

Itravel.

To everyone who

believedin

me through FFA, you showed me

that

FFA

is

more than

events

and awards —

^it's

^{people who}

^care.

And,

of course,to

my team —

^Joe,Clara-Leigh,

Cody, Andy and

Bill

— ^{whether we were}

^{talkingtostudentsin}Japan, plan-

ning

leadershipconferencesinFlorida,ordiscussing decisionsthat will

impact

thefutureof

FFA, your hope has

served as

an example

for

me and thousands

ofothers.

Robert Fulghum once asked

Professor

Alexander Papaderos "What

isthe

meaning

oflife?"

The aged Cretan

teacher

responded with

thisstory:

"When

I

was

asmall child,

during World War

II,

we were very poor and we

^lived

ina

remote

village.

One day

I

found

the

broken

piecesof a mirror.

A German motorcycle had been wrecked

inthat place.

1 tried tofindallthepieces

and put them

together,

but

it

was

notpossible,soI

kept

thelargest piece.This one.

And by

scratchingit

on

astoneI

made

^it

round.

^I

began

toplay

with

it

asatoy

and became

fascinated

by

thefactthatI

could

shine lightinthe

dark

places

where

the

sun would never

shine

—

ⁱⁿ

deep

holes

and

crevices

and dark

closets.It

became

a

game

for

me

to get lightinthe

most

inaccessibleplacesI

could

find.I

keptthelittlemirror,

and

asI

went about growing

up,I

would

takeitoutinidle

moments and

continue the challengeofthe

game. As

^I

became

a

man,

^I

grew

to

understand

thatthis

was

not^justachild's

game but

a

metaphor

for

what

^I

might do with my

life.I

came

to

understand

thatI

am

^notthe light

nor

the sourceofthelight,

but

light

—

^truth,

understanding, knowledge

—

"Choose to believe in the power _{of dreams,} and

to make a difference for others. Choose to live in the light."

—

Setli

Derner

isthere,

and

itwill

only

shinein

dark

placesif I reflectit.I

am

a

fragment

of amirror

whose design and shape

^I

do

not

know.

Nevertheless,

with what

I

have,I

can

reflectlightinto

dark

placesofthis

world —

^intothe

^dark

placesintheheartsof

men — and change some

thingsin

some

people. I

can

give

them

hope.

Perhaps

others

may

see

and do

likewise.Thisis

what

I

am

about.Thisisthe

meaning

of

my

life."

FFA members,

I'veseen

your

goals

and dreams.

I've

watched your

successes

and your

defeats.I

may

not

know

all

your names and

faces,

but

I

do know

^this:

with hope you can never

fail

— ^only

^{learnto tryagain.}

^{With hope you can never}

discourage others

—

^onlyinspire

^them

^tofollow

your example.

With hope you can never

letfearcontrol

your

life

—

^onlylet

your dreams

lead the

way.

With each new

day,

each new

challenge

and each new

opportunity,

choose

to

have

hope.

Choose

tobelieveinthe

power

of

dreams, and

to

make

adifferenceforothers.

Choose

to live in thelight.

May each

of

you

enjoy the

rewards

ofsuccess,the lessons of failure,theriches offriendship

and

thefulfillment of service.

May you never

live inthe

darkness

offear,

but

rather,

may you always

live

with hope — ^{may you always}

^{liveinthelight.}

Thank

you.

Good

bye.

God

bless.

(RetiringAddresses continued on page34) 33

Retiring Addresses

^{(Continuedfrontpage33)}

If the Shoe Fits

Cody

L.

Wagner

National

FFA

Secretary Banner,

Wyoming

Where

didI

put

thoseshoes?Idon't

know why

I

always do

this.

Hey,

lookattheseoldfootballshoes.I

remember when

I

wanted

to

be

thestarquarterbackofthe football

team —

^Ijust

^{wasn't good enough.}

^Ididn't

^{even remember}

these!

Halloween, when

^I

was

in...thirdgrade.I

was

the

newest

astronaut!

My

greatest

dream was

tofillNeil

Armstrong's

shoes.^Iguessthat will

never happen. Oh,

the oldbootsthat

Dad gave me. They always seemed

justalittle

toobigtowear!

They've

disappeared! Idon't

know where

theywent.

It's

amazing how

often

we do

thisinlife.

We spend

days,

months, and

yearssearching

through

pilesofshoes that

belong

toothers.I

would have

given

anything

tofillthe shoesofthegreat athletes, to

walk on

the

moon

ortolive

up

to

accomplishments

ofthose

around me. How many

times

do you

heara

person

say,"Well, John, Brian sure

leftabig setofshoesfor

you

tofill?"

Or,

how

about,"Jennifer,

you have

a

tough

act tofollow?"

"When faced with a challenge, the best thing to do is to attempt and

succeed; the next best

is to attempt and be unsuccessful; and the worst is not to attempt at all"

— Cody

L.

Wagner Throughout my

^lifeI'veseen

countless

people

attemptingtofollow

someone who came

before

them

orto fill theset ofshoes the

person

left

behind.

Every

time

we do

this,

we

fall intotherut oftryingtoimitateor

perform

tothestandardsset

by

others.Insteadoffillingtheshoesof others,

we should

first

grow

into

our

own

shoes.

We must attempt

tolive

up

to

our own

potential

and

talents.

Why do dreams remain

unfulfilled,goals

unachieved, and

potentialunrealized?Ibelieve

one

ofthe

most impor-

tant factorsisfear.I'm not

speaking about

fearofauthority, fearof injury,orfearof others.

The

greatest fear that limits

our

potentialisthe fear offailure.

Each

ofushasfeltthefear offailure.

When we choose

notto

run

for

an

office,entera competition, orintroduce ourselvestoothers,

we

are experiencinga fear offailure.I

have

feltthisfear

many

times inlife

and

in

FFA. During my

firstyearin

FFA,

^I

was

finally

convinced by

otherstoenter the

FFA Creed speaking

contest.Aftera

few months

of

commitment and hard work,

I

had

learned thecreed

and

successfully

competed

inseveral contests. Inthose

few months,

I

developed from

a

freshman with no

desiretopresent

anything resembling

aspeech, into arelativelyconfident speaker.

As

aresult,

my sophomore

year

brought an opportunity

towritea

speech

forthe

prepared

public

speaking

contest.

As

thedeadline ap-

proached,

I

became more apprehensive about

thespeech.I

thought

ofso

many

excuses:Ididn't

have

time,there

wasn't an

interestingtopic,I

was

tiredofspeeches. I

gave

every

excuse

exceptforthe

most

significant. I

was

afraid tofail.I

was

afraid thatI

wouldn't

win,thatI

wouldn't

live

up

to expectations.Fearof failure

removed any

opportunitiesfor success

—

^Ichoseto

never

enteranother

speaking

eventin

FFA.

Constantlyinlife

we

letopportunitiesslip

away because

we

areafraid offailing. In

almost

every aspectoflife,

we

are

pressured by

societyto

succeed

in

anything we

attempt.

We

areconditionedto utilizeonly

our most apparent

talents

and

to

endeavor

onlyinto

what

is

deemed

possible.

By

followingthispattern,

we

are limitingourselves

and

limiting

our

potentialto

make

a difference inlife.

Each

of

you must be

willingto

overcome

thefear.

Consider

the

worst

possible

outcome

ⁱⁿ

each

situation.

Looking back

at the

speech

contest,I

may have

lost,orstruggled

with my

presentation.

Maybe

a

few would have

laughed, but these areonly

minor

setbacks.

Every

time

we attempt something

differentor

something new, we

risksimilar

outcomes.

Yet,

we

also

have

theopportunitytosucceed.

Think

ofthetimes that

you chose

nottoaccept thoserisks.

You

limitedtherisk offailure,

but you

also

removed

the possibilityof success.

When

faced

with

achallenge,the bestthingto

do

isto

attempt and

succeed;thenext bestisto

attempt and be

unsuccess-

ful;

and

the

worst

isnotto

attempt

at all.

The

easiest

road

tofailureis

givingin to fear.

Never

leta fear of failingstandinthe

way

of

your dreams and your

success.

When you overcome your

fear,

you

are

ready

tobegin

your journey

down

the

path

tosuccess.

As you

look

forward

to

your

journey,

you have

severalexpectations,

much

like

any journey on

a

mountain

trailor

through

the

woods. Your road may

appear

straight

and

level,a relativelyeasy journey.

You might choose

shoes

such

as these.

Your road may

instead

appear

to

be rocky and

treacherous,a

more

difficultcourse, requiringadifferentsetofshoes. In

most

instances,regard- lessof^initialimpressions, therewill

be

obstaclesalong the

way.

Our

familyexperienced theseobstacles

during

Aprilof thisyear.I

was

ⁱⁿFlorida

with my

officer

team preparing

for state

conventions and planning

aleadership conference.

Ifinished

my work on

Friday

evening by checking my

telephone

messages,

not expecting

any important

calls.

The

last

message from my mother caught me

^offguard.I

listenedagainto

be

sure.

She

told

me

^that

my

father

was

bleedinginhis

head and

thatthey

were

flying

him

tothe hospital fortreatment.

He had

lostall

movement

inhisleft side.

A few moments went by

beforeI

understood

the

impact

ofthose

words. One

ofthe

most

difficulttimesof

our