President’s Perspective

Missouri FFA President Justin Eddy works with Weaubleau FFA first-year members during a Greenhand Motivational Conference. Greenhand FFA members were identifying opportunities in FFA and setting goals for their time in the organization.

As we head into the winter months of 2020, I want to take a quick moment and congratulate our very own former Missouri FFA President Paxton Dahmer on his election as the 2020-2021 National FFA Central Regional Vice-President! His election occurred during the 93 rd National FFA Convention at the end of October. I spoke with Paxton after his election, and he told me that serving as a national officer has been a goal of his since he met Shae Booster, a National FFA Officer at the time, when he attended the Missouri FFA Convention.

Our conversation prompted me to think about the goals we set now that we want to achieve by then end of our high school career. Where do we see ourselves in five years? How about in 10 years? If you asked me these questions a few months ago, I would have told you that I had no idea, and that I didn’t even know what I was going to have for dinner that night. But after I spent some time reflecting on those questions, I realized that I did, in fact, know where I wanted to see myself. I just needed to look a little deeper than I was originally.

Now, I know that goal setting can be hard and uncomfortable. It is not easy to sit down and write out where we want to see ourselves in the future. But when we do, those visions become reality. Those dreams become real. Those unachievable tasks become achievable results. I challenge all of us to take just five minutes and reflect on where we want to see ourselves in five years. Take out a notecard, a piece of paper, or open a note on your phone and spend a little time reflecting. I promise you, when we are able to identify goals, we will be much more capable of reaching them.

Let’s set our goals today so that we can achieve our dreams tomorrow!

I hope this holiday season will bring joy, happiness and health to all of us!