Youth News
Kent Boggs Announces Retirement from His 33-Year Career as Oklahoma FFA's Executive Secretary
Fri, 16 Mar 2018 13:17:11 CDT
As Executive Secretary for Oklahoma FFA, Kent Boggs has long been associated with the Oklahoma Youth Expo and Tulsa State Fair helping manage their respective sheep shows, among many other volunteer roles through other events. This year, however, he is counting each event as its last for him having recently announced that he will retire from his storied career serving the members of the Oklahoma FFA Association. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays had the chance to visit with Boggs during the OYE activities this week and reflect on his career and where he sees the FFA organization headed as he prepares to step down and enjoy the next chapter of his life in retirement. Listen to their complete interview by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below at the bottom of the page.
"I feel like I'm at a good point in my life; I felt like I'd always know when the time was right to retire," said Boggs, who began his career teaching high school agricultural education for seven years before transitioning to his current position that he has held for 33 years now. "So, I will leave with 40 years of service - not quite 62 years old, so going out feeling good and ready to move on to that next chapter in my life."
Working with the different State FFA Officer teams he remarked has been a highlight of his career, enjoying the opportunity to have watched so many of them grow up through the organization and take office as leaders among their peers. He says his working relationships with the state staff has also been a joy and a fountain of memories he will always look back on fondly.
As he prepares to depart from the organization he has helped lead for decades, Boggs says he feels as though it is at a time when the organization is headed down a promising path.
"Even though we've been in a real financial funk over the last four or five years and no new money - that sort of thing - we added three brand new ag programs just this year in schools that had never had ag yet or FFA," he said. "That tells me, somebody out there still thinks we're doing really good things with our kids and our young people and they like what they see. Ag-ed and FFA is growing and the potential for it to continue to grow is definitely there."
However, Boggs says the number one threat to that growth is simply finding the right kids out there that want to become ag-teachers. Right now, he says there is approximately 130 alternatively certified teachers out of the 450 that are out there and he says they are glad to have them because otherwise there would be many programs shut down.
As for his intention regarding retirement, Boggs is uncharacteristically without a plan.
"I tell everybody I spent my whole professional career being a meeting planner so why would I want to plan my retirement?" he joked. "I just want to chill out a little bit and I think the good Lord will have a direction for me."
Our Coverage of the 2018 Oklahoma Youth Expo is once again a service of ITC Great Plains, Your Energy Superhighway- learn more about this high voltage, transmission only utility and their commitment to the communities they serve which is the cornerstone of their business-click here for their website.
Reports will be heard daily on great radio stations that cover Oklahoma and that are a part of the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network- on the internet- our reports of the 2018 OYE can be found on the Blue Green Gazette page- available here. We will be adding pictures daily to our official 2018 OYE Album of Photos on FLICKR, found here.
For more information about the Oklahoma Youth Expo, click here for the home page of the OYE website.
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