{"id":5634,"date":"2016-09-14T13:39:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T18:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=5634"},"modified":"2016-09-14T13:39:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T18:39:13","slug":"drew-list-latest-ffa-officer-choose-sau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2016\/drew-list-latest-ffa-officer-choose-sau\/","title":{"rendered":"Drew List latest FFA officer to choose SAU"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"drew-list-state-ffa-officer-chooses-sau-img_0630\"<\/a>Drew List didn\u2019t grow up on a farm yet he has nonetheless succeeded in Future Farmers of America, ascending to one of its top statewide elected positions this summer before entering Southern Arkansas University as a freshman.<\/p>\n

The Vilonia resident, who is majoring in Agriculture Plant Science, said he didn\u2019t have farming in his background. \u201cThe closest thing to farming (his family) had was growing a stand of pine trees, which we harvested when I was about five years old,\u201d List said. He comes to SAU as Northwest Arkansas Vice President of the Arkansas FFA, an office he\u2019d campaigned for but was shocked to actually win.<\/p>\n

Election to the post last June taught List \u201cI can anything I put my mind to.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is among several high-ranking FFA officers to choose SAU. Kinsey Watkins, current Arkansas FFA president, also chose SAU this fall. Senior Taylor McNeel is National FFA president and former Arkansas FFA president. She chose SAU along in 2013 along with two other state officers \u2013 Caleigh Sue Moyer from Prairie Grove and Sunni Wise from Bismark. List said he knows McNeel and was partly inspired by her to get involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope to get to talk to her at national convention,\u201d he said, referring to the National FFA Convention, which will be held in October in Indianapolis. \u201cIf we can tear ourselves away for a minute, I definitely want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

List said he found FFA in high school after trying a number of things that didn\u2019t quite work out. One of his first assignments was learning the FFA Creed and reciting it aloud in front of his fellow students. \u201cI had never spoken in public before,\u201d List said. Later, his teacher pulled him aside and asked if he would be the FFA Creed Speaker for the ninth grade. \u201cI said I\u2019d give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of his earliest triumphs in FFA was placing seventh out of 25 creed speakers at competition in Fayetteville. \u201cI had to recite all five paragraphs and then judges asked questions pertaining to the creed and how you interpreted it,\u201d List said. \u201cI had never gone to a competition before and never spoken in front of judges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience was a confidence-builder \u2013 and an eye-opener \u2013 for the high school student. \u201cBefore ninth grade, I didn\u2019t know what I wanted to do. I didn\u2019t know where I belonged in high school,\u201d he said. FFA showed him \u201cwhere I needed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

In tenth grade, he discovered another passion, one he has followed to SAU: forestry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a forestry career development event, and I figured I\u2019d give it a shot,\u201d List said. \u201cI\u2019d tried other competitions but didn\u2019t enjoy them. I figured it\u2019s easier to judge something that\u2019s not moving, like a tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

List found that he \u201creally connected\u201d with other members of the team, and was encouraged by his agriculture teacher and forestry coach, Mr. McCain. \u201cHe got me to focus on what I was doing in high school and where I wanted to go in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

After competing in the forestry event \u2013 and placing third overall in competition \u2013 he decided in his junior year that he wanted to go work for the Arkansas Forestry Commission. \u201cI gained a respect for the commission,\u201d he said. He was also learning independence and greater self-confidence. FFA \u201cshowed me a lot of things about myself I didn\u2019t know. It showed me I can do pretty what I have a desire to do. It\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last May, at Vilonia High School, he delivered his final address as FFA chapter president. \u201cI talked about the struggles I had before FFA, how I didn\u2019t really fit in many places. I talked about my FFA experiences, how much I\u2019d grown, and said that everybody should take the opportunity to try something new. Give it a shot, and if doesn\u2019t work out, something else will come along. You\u2019ll find where you really need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, List had no desire to run for state office, but after seeing the camaraderie among newly-elected officers, he decided to \u201cgive it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Training to campaign was hard work, he said. \u201cI still retained some of my shyness from ninth grade, but I wanted to at least try. We could not actually campaign for office until the slate was announced the first week of general session (at the Arkansas FFA State Convention). After that announcement, we could go out and introduce ourselves as running for state office.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the convention, held June 1-3 at Camp Couchdale in Hot Springs, List was listed for Northwest Arkansas vice-president. \u201cThat was fine with me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was happy to campaign for whatever they had me slated for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning, he said, left him in a state of shock. \u201cI could not believe it. I won\u2019t lie. I sat there going, \u2018How on earth did that happen?\u2019 I called my mom and she couldn\u2019t believe it. My dad called me back and said, \u2018Tell me that again.\u2019 I\u2019d had confidence, but I was thinking that no matter what, it was a fun experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

List said he didn\u2019t know what his choice for college would be until 10th grade, when he met McNeel at the Faulkner County Fair. \u201cShe was talking about SAU, and I said, \u2018I\u2019m thinking about going into forestry,\u2019 and asked her about the program. She said Plant Science was strong, and I did the research and saw that it was extremely strong. When I came to tour SAU, it just felt like home. It felt like I was still in Vilonia, even though I didn\u2019t know a living soul here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He lives on campus and plans on spending most of his time in Magnolia and SAU this fall. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to living here and getting involved,\u201d he said. \u201cCollege is a definite change from high school. People always told me, \u2018you\u2019ll spend all your time studying,\u2019 but I\u2019ve got plenty of time to get my studying done and then get out and meet people. For me, it\u2019s been a little bit easier than high school. I am a first-generation college student, so this is a new experience for all of (his family) at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comfort in Magnolia was part of the reason he chose SAU. \u201cIn Vilonia, when you walk down the street, you know who is walking on the other side of the street. I think it\u2019s the same here. You don\u2019t have a lot of distraction outside of school but there are still things going on you can participate in.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his plan is still to go into forestry. \u201cI\u2019d like to use my degree to either go into the Forestry Commission or go to work for the Department of Agriculture in some capacity higher than entry-level,\u201d he said. Research on the forestry industry led him to discover that \u201cit\u2019s bigger than I ever imagined it being.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that in his capacity as Northwest Arkansas vice-president, he will be touring different parts of the state, \u201cletting people know who we are and what we do. I cannot wait to go to Indianapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the reason he anticipates a reunion with McNeel at the National Convention is because she is from his hometown. \u201cShe was elected chapter president during my freshman year in high school,\u201d he said. \u201cTo see her perform her duties on a national stage is exciting. She went with me to my first public-speaking competition, and I got to know her throughout ninth grade. She is shown me that anything is possible once you have a desire to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drew List didn\u2019t grow up on a farm yet he has nonetheless succeeded in Future Farmers of America, ascending to one of its top statewide elected positions this summer before entering Southern Arkansas University as a freshman. The Vilonia resident, who is majoring in Agriculture Plant Science, said he didn\u2019t have farming in his background…. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":5635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[271,65,308,32641,7753],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-agriculture","9":"category-college-of-science-and-technology","10":"category-featured-layout","11":"category-homepage","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5634","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\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}