The Northwest region FFA officer team. Photo Cred: ncffa.org
Senior Lillian Farley is a complex, kind, and well-rounded individual here at Watauga High School. She is a gifted student and an athlete on our women’s lacrosse team. Farley is also the president of Watauga’s FFA program, and she is leading our FFA program through their competitions this year, helping grow and nurture a positive culture in our FFA.
Farley is an advocate for FFA in every sense of the word, and she stressed the importance of welcoming anyone who is interested in FFA, regardless of their background or other hobbies.
“It's more than just a club,” Farley said. “It's somewhere where you can meet and you can feel safe and you can learn without any shame of not knowing stuff.”
Farley believes that FFA is an important part of the future of our region as rural Western North Carolinians.
“The FFA motto is learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve,” said Farley. “You use your education for your benefit, and then you use that education to put it into action, like going into a career. And then you make your money so that you can survive, but you also do that to serve others.”
This spring, Farley is planning on participating in a fun event that she wasn’t sure about, but she is now excited and sure she’ll have fun.
“We're planning on competing in Gator Wars, which it's a John Deere sponsored event, and our goal is to fix a tractor or a lawnmower,” Farley said.
FFA has two large competitions and meetings, which Farley finds fun, engaging, and educationally meaningful.
“The first one was RLC, which was in September, and that was a leadership conference,” Farley said. There, the club’s 6 officers were divided into groups to discuss various topics with students from other schools and places.
As an officer, Farley leads and plans many events. Farley is sure to speak on the importance of farming or animal husbandry at meetings, but also recognizes that FFA covers an expansive range of topics, including simply public speaking and communication skills.
“Our theme this year was connections,” said Farley. The club’s leadership is working to emphasize the long term benefits of personal and professional connections that FFA can foster.
Farley is also an officer of FFA for the entire region of the High Country and makes a difference in her leadership positions there too.
“I'm a regional officer and my position is the treasurer,” said Farley. “At the regional level, you're all the same. The president does the same amount of work as you do.”
Farley is already a talented leader, but she is very modest about her own skills and wants to learn and become an even better leader for the people around her.
“I can see how you can have people who will guide you along the way,” Farley said. So even as a leader in FFA, I still have those people who I look up to and who lead me as a leader.”
Farley is a passionate and capable leader, and her impact is clear in our FFA community. All of the students that work with her are constantly learning and enjoying themselves. Farley wants the best for our FFA program and to maximize the experience at this school for anyone who wants to be a part of it.
“You don't have to come in wearing boots and jeans,” Farley said. “You're still welcome, and you'll find a place in FFA for you.”
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