Freshmen Find Their Place In FFA

The school year is well underway, and a wave of freshmen at Morro Bay High School are putting on their blue jackets for the first time, stepping into a tradition full of learning, leadership and agricultural excellence. Our local FFA chapter is continuing to grow as more students explore what it means to be part of one of the school’s most active organizations. For many students in the program, it’s beginning to feel less like an extracurricular, and more like a chance to work with other people, participate hands-on, and discover new things.

Freshman Evelyn Garcia is one of many who have recently joined the FFA program. She was drawn to it because of her love for animals and her dream of working as a professional in the veterinary field, and decided to give the program a try after hearing about it through her sister. “I wanted to work with animals,” Garcia said. “When I heard FFA was a place where you could do that and have, like, a nice farm life, I thought it sounded interesting.” Since joining FFA, she’s already helped at football barbecues as well as the Drive-Thru Barbecue. These experiences made her feel like she was a part of something right from the start. Garcia said that her favorite part of being in FFA was socializing with others, volunteering, and doing labs. “I love all the labs and the volunteer things we do, and also just like socializing with people.” Garcia also said that the program made her change her perspective on farming as a whole. “I didn’t really know much about it before. I wanted to learn more, so I joined the class. I learned a lot about different animals and the proper names of them. It helped educate me.” Garcia also offered some advice to other freshmen considering joining the program and said, “Definitely work hard. Definitely. You get to have fun, but you also need to work hard. It’s very hands-on, very enjoyable, but also very busy.”

Two other freshmen, Alex Brown and Demi Macias, are also enthusiastic about joining FFA, and they both praised the social environment and the program’s ability to offer a more unique experience compared to ordinary classes. “I find [Ag Bio] more fun than any normal biology class, because you get to actually do things. It’s less boring because I get bored quickly in other classes, but I’m never bored to go into any Ag classes because they’re always fun. There’s no boring textbook work or anything,” Brown said. For Macias, it was an exciting opportunity to complete a CTE pathway that was both engaging and practical. “To me, [FFA] seemed like a great opportunity to do one of the CTE pathways, but still have fun with friends and put myself out there with a lot of those events, because the events are very social, and you have to do a lot of talking and interacting with people.” 

Beyond what they do in class, Macias and Brown have participated in volunteer work at football games, and have taken part in events such as the Greenhand Banquet and the opening and closing ceremonies. They also noted how the program challenged them in ways they didn’t expect, requiring them to have a strong sense of commitment, but still keeps them motivated. Brown said, “What I didn’t know was that there’s so much public speaking, and I didn’t know that it would get really easy to do public speaking, but it did, so it definitely helps you out with that. But the group of people was awesome because they’re just really nice, and they’ll help you out if you need it. And it’s just more friendly than anything else, really.” On the other hand, Garcia said the amount of work and events was intimidating at first. “There’s a lot of things you need to do, like Alex said, and there’s a lot of events. That scared me at first, but once I went to all the events, I realized it wasn’t scary at all. It’s less intimidating because it’s fun.”

For the freshmen at MBHS, FFA is clearly more than just a class; it’s a commitment to learning, having fun with others, and building character. As the year goes on, the new members are ambitious to keep it a part of their high school careers and their own personal development.