Advising a Youth Group or Herding Cattle (2003)

Rising at the first morning light, you set out to gather the cattle. You have collected the needed equipment, hired help, and have planned for any thing that could happen. Each person knows their duties and the cattle drive begins. The herd is well on its way to the destination and the hired hands are working well, keeping everything together. Then it happens, the herd is spooked. Every calf is headed in a different direction. Does this sound familiar? Advising a youth group is like herding cattle, each student has his/her own ideas of what an FFA chapter should be; our goal is to head them all in the same direction. Just like any agricultural education instructor, I began with a vision of what the profession would be like. I grew up in a chapter with a strong tradition. As a young child I watched those I looked up to become leaders in the FFA chapter, and I knew that one day I would do the same. We participated in leadership events and contests (what we called them back then), because that is what our chapter did, there were no questions asked. However, my traditional prospective soon changed when I accepted my first teaching position in a program that had never had an Agricultural Education and FFA program before. I am currently the agricultural education instructor and FFA advisor at Southeast of Saline high school in Gypsum, Kansas. Southeast of Saline is an average size rural school that serves several small surrounding communities. The school tried for many years to begin an FFA chapter and the dream became my reality during my senior year at Kansas State University. I was hired in February as the agricultural education instructor and FFA Advisor, and I went into full swing designing the curriculum, ordering supplies and recruiting FFA members. My vision of FFA soon changed when I began working with youth who had few experiences within leadership organizations. During the year, there were a few pieces of advice and experiences that helped develop the chapter, and bring the cattle together. Gather students toward common goals It is important to gather the herd at the beginning of the drive. Recruiting FFA members together can be one of the biggest challenges of advising a chapter. The members had very little knowledge of FFA; all they knew was what they had been told. We began by explaining what FFA was by sharing with the students and parents all of the events the FFA members can participate in, from Career Development Events, to leadership events, and scholarship opportunities. However, as any teacher knows, the FFA has so many opportunities; no single advisor can accomplish them all. This is where the cattle scattered. Every student headed in a different direction with the chapter, and we needed to focus on certain areas to get started. We had to sit down and establish the goals for the chapter. Like most things at this point in the chapter, potential goals were provided, and the students picked through them choosing those that interested them most. This was the first taste of success and accomplishment as an advisor; the students were gathered together towards common goals. Empower the students At this point, it is important to identify the leaders of the herd and encourage them to assist the strays. At the beginning, the chapter was led by the advisor, because I was the only one that had an idea of which direction to go. The weight of responsibility was heavy on the advisor and light on the members. However, as they participated in more events and became more aware of the FFA organization, the students, especially the officers, began accepting more responsibility for the direction of the local chapter activities and events. They decided to have a fun activity for FFA members to participate in each month. …