Youth News
National FFA VP Jason Wetzler Challenges Oklahoma FFA Members to Tell Agriculture's Story
Wed, 30 Apr 2014 05:15:02 CDT
The Fourth General Session of the Oklahoma FFA Convention will hear from the Western Region Vice President of the National FFA organization, Jason Wetzler, and while he is from Oregon, he decided the best place for him as a college student was Stillwater, Oklahoma and the Division of Agriculture at Oklahoma State University.
Wetzler talked with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network's Ron Hays in the Convention Green Room and indicated that once his year as a National Officer is done, he looks forward to getting back to Stillwater and is considering a change in major when he does- from Ag Leadership to Ag Education.
When Wetzler arrived in Oklahoma City earlier in the week, he came from the New Hampshire State FFA Convention, where they had 350 FFA members total at the meeting. He says that at the Oklahoma convention, he had 350 Oklahoma FFA members in his workshop- and that he is looking forward to addressing many of the 13,000 during his keynote address on Wednesday.
Wetzler is a forward thinking FFA member, which is perhaps one reason that he is wearing the unique National Officer FFA jacket that has only the emblem of the organization on its back- and no listing of state or chapter. He calls the FFA approach to agriculture "all inclusive, all welcoming" and that FFA members can learn the skills they need to succeed in all types of agricultural careers.
When asked if he believes that he can be part of the effort to educate the general public about agriculture and raise the literacy level in the US about agriculture, he told Hays that he hopes he can make a difference saying "for me, I get excited about growing food- I get excited about educating people about growing food" and he adds that one dream of his is to be able to educate today's adults about agriculture- "My goal is to be able to work in informal agricultural education like educating adults in the city of Portland about agriculture so they can stop misinforming their kids- my friends- about agriculture and agricultural practices."
You can hear the full conversation betweem Wetzler and Hays by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
Complete coverage of the 2014 Oklahoma State Convention can be followed on the Blue Green Gazette- Click here to jump to the Blue Green Gazette.
Our coverage of the 2014 Oklahoma FFA state contests and the 88th Annual Convention is brought to you in part by your Oklahoma Ford Dealers, a Platinum Level Title Sponsor of the 2014 Convention! Click here to learn more about why Ford is Best in Oklahoma!
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