BROADCASTS.com

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING JUAN RAMIREZ!  Way back when I first started profiling FFA students on this show I did an interview with Katie Pinke.  She had written an article called "Cows Not Required, 7 Reasons Why Your Kids Should Participate In The FFA".  This article was definitely one of the reasons that I chose to interview FFA students on the show. During the interview Katie talked about her time in the private sector and how she hired new employees.  She told me that if she saw "FFA" on the resume, those people automatically got an interview because she knew what types of character and values they had been taught.  In the past five years since that interview, I have come to know this to be more true than we ever thought during that interview. In today's episode I am profiling a young man who exemplifies exactly what Katie was talking about, and what I have learned over and over. Juan Ramirez lives in American Falls, which is on the other side of the Snake River Plain from my part of Idaho.  American Falls is a very agricultural area, and Juan has a great work ethic and wants to work.  This combination of factors leaves Juan with all the work that he can handle. He has jobs in agricultural retail and working on farms. Juan has seen the opportunities that are out there for him, and he does not allow anything to hold him back.  At the retail location that he works there is a welding and fabrication shop.  He has an interest in this as a future career, so he started pursing the chance to learn this skill while working.  When we recorded this episode, Juan had just been granted the ability to work in this shop and learn this trade. Juan epitomizes the positive attributes of the FFA, and that is why we are thrilled to profile him today. SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Welding & Fabrication HIGH SCHOOL: American Falls High School; American Falls, Idaho MASCOT: Beavers FFA ADVISOR: Courtney Knickrehm CONTACT INFORMATION FOR JUAN RAMIREZ: Click on the picture below to be taken to the American Falls High School Website: Juans's FFA Advisor's Email Address: courtneyk2@sd381.k12.id.us  American Falls High School Telephone Number: (208) 226- 5173 FFA LINKS: National FFA Organization Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE's) Support FFA  Donate to FFA - One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000.  In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants.  With your donations, more students can get this head start - pay it forward. REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA: Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world.  FFA is providing the needed education, training and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and insure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food. Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation.  The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth. Farmers, ranchers and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store: “The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters