Youth News
FFA- A Part of Life for Gatlin Squires Of Kingfisher FFA
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:43:54 CDT
FFA runs in the blood, literally for Gatlin Squires of Kingfisher, Oklahoma. As the son and grandson of agricultural education teachers, FFA has been a way of life for this Oklahoma State University freshman. Since the age of four he has had lots of FFA memories and aspirations in watching other FFA members.
"I always wanted a blue jacket of my own to wear," Squires said.
As a eighth grader, Squires remembers watching his older brother compete in prepared public speaking and extemporaneous speaking contests, which seemed daunting for the teenager.
" I was very quiet and shy and I really wasn't a very good speaker at the time," Squires said. "But seeing my brother be able to go in and do this, I just knew he was the greatest in the world at public speaking."
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays interviewed Squires about his FFA experience. You can hear that conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
A few years later Squires followed his brother's footsteps in competing in his first FFA speech contest his junior year. Since then he has gotten a lot better at public speaking in winning the state FFA extemporaneous speaking contest. This month he will travel to Louisville, Kentucky for the 2014 National FFA Convention to represent Oklahoma in the national extemporaneous speech contest. The contest pushes youth to think on their feet on a wide variety of topics. At the contest contestants draw three topics, then choose one of those topics to present. Participants then have 30 minutes to prepare to give a four to six minute speech.
"It's a lot of about knowing your research, knowing the agricultural issues ranging anywhere from production agriculture to more urban agriculture and technologies becoming available," Squires said.
As a Oklahoma State FFA officer, this won't be his first time to attend the National FFA Convention before, but he is especially excited this year to compete a national contest.
"Its completely different knowing you have the opportunity to represent your state at the national level," Squires said. " It puts a lot of pressure on your back and a lot of that I put on my own self."
"I'm excited for this year's National Convention and hope its best yet," he said.
Hays will be joined by Squires on the "In the Field" segment Saturday morning at 6:40 on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City.
For a full list of Oklahoma FFA members representing the state in the 87th National FFA Convention, Click Here.
Coverage of the 2014 National FFA Convention and Expo can be seen and heard on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network, OklahomaFarmReport.Com, our Daily Farm and Ranch News Email, Twitter via our Ron_on_RON feed, Facebook , FLICKR and on our Oklahoma Farm Report App- available for Apple and Andrioid Devices.
Our exclusive coverage from Louisville is a service of the Oklahoma FFA Association, the Oklahoma FFA Alumni Association and your Oklahoma Ford Dealers. For more information about this youth organization, click here. FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
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