After seeing the impact national officers had on students\u2019 lives at her first national FFA convention, Monica Coker decided she wanted to have that same influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to do that on a national level,\u201d said the sophomore agricultural education major at Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia. \u201cI want to impact the lives of kids. I believe that I have that ability to be influential in a child\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August, Coker took one step closer to her dream when she was chosen as the representative from Arkansas to run for national office. Since that time, she has been preparing for the interview process that will take place in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the summer I will study the history of the FFA and agriculture issues,\u201d she said. \u201cI am also looking into internship opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
If elected to one of only six national officer positions, Coker will be required to leave school and spend an entire year traveling.<\/p>\n
\u201cNational officers live out of a suitcase,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are always on the go around the country spreading agriculture literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
National FFA officers are responsible for serving and representing more than 490,000 FFA members. Officers represent the image and direction of the National FFA Organization to teachers, state staff, teacher educators, agriculture industry executives, government leaders, the media, and the general public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe experience of being a national officer will be exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be an opportunity to see the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
While at SAU, Coker has been involved with the Association of Baptist Students, College-FFA, Agri Business Club, and Alpha Tau Alpha, the agricultural education national honor society.<\/p>\n
After finishing her studies at SAU, Coker plans to spend time in the classroom helping students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope I can find an FFA chapter to teach,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to be in the classroom with students. I want to be a teacher who students can count on and they can talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After seeing the impact national officers had on students\u2019 lives at her first national FFA convention, Monica Coker decided she wanted to have that same influence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to do that on a national level,\u201d said the sophomore agricultural education major at Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia. \u201cI want to impact the lives of kids. I believe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[65,308,143],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-196","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-agriculture","7":"category-college-of-science-and-technology","8":"category-student-life","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}