Trey Myers of Oklahoma was recently elected as the new president of National FFA. He said it hasn’t truly sunk in yet, but it’s getting there.
It’s starting to set in just a little bit, but it still doesn’t exactly feel real. But I’m excited for the year ahead. So, I’m from a little town called Perkins, Oklahoma, which is right next to Stillwater. But a fun fact about Perkins is it’s actually home of the original Pistol Pete, which is the mascot here at Oklahoma State, so I’ve practically bled orange and been a Cowboy since the time I was born and was little bitty. I grew up loving sports. Thought I wanted to play collegiate golf there a little bit, got plugged into the FFA, and went to something we call Alumni Leadership Camp here in Oklahoma. And for the listeners out there that don’t exactly know what that is, Alumni Leadership Camp is our summer camp for Oklahoma FFA, and I fell in love with the people.”
He was elected to a local FFA office as a freshman in college. Myers talked about the decision to run for National FFA President.
“Fun fact, I almost didn’t run, funny enough, so it’s a little bit of a funny story. Josiah Cruickshank — I don’t know if you know that name. He was a past national officer a couple of years back, but I bumped into him at our state convention here in Oklahoma. I was saying I was considering it a little bit, but at this point, I was definitely not dead-set on running. And then I also bumped into Jack Lingenfelter at our state convention. He was currently serving as the southern region vice president, and I bumped into him. He said, ‘You should totally run.’ So, I thought about it. I ended up just showing up for our Oklahoma national officer selection process and was selected. And then, like I said, fast-forward to where we are today. It’s pretty crazy to look back on the last couple of months, but it’s been a crazy road.”
For those who’ve never run for National FFA Office, he said it’s a difficult hill to climb.
“Very much so. In fact, at the beginning of the semester and going into the process, preparing for it, someone told me that this will be the hardest thing you’ll ever do. The process is comprised of seven different rounds. You’ve got your personal round one, which is a six-minute interview. Then you have a stand and deliver, which is where they give you a topic. You have 15 minutes to prepare a four-minute speech. The following day, on that Monday, you have a one-on-one round. So, you have a one-on-one with each member of the dominating committee, and then that night, there’s an advancement. After you make the advancement, you go into media and stakeholder rounds, so I had two conversations with a stakeholder. I did a podcast, just like we’re doing today, and then we had a little 15-minute portion of a facilitation, and then we had another PR Two, which is a personal round conclusion. Thursday at about 9:30, all the way to Saturday at two, I was just a nervous wreck waiting for the results. So, it’s a long, strenuous process, an emotional roller coaster, but I guess it worked out.”
Myers is looking forward to a busy year as a national officer…tape
Cut #4 :42 OC…”for me.”
“I’ve been telling a lot of people the last week that I’m looking forward to bringing Small Group 19 to FFA, and not only FFA members, but people all across the country. What I mean by that is Small Group 19 is kind of the epicenter of where my FFA journey started. I joined FFA in the eighth grade, but it didn’t really start for me until I went to Alumni Leadership Camp. Small Group 19 was the small group that I was placed in for those three days, and at the end of that session, at the end of those three days, these people that had no idea who each other even were, they were complete strangers just 96 hours ago, left that campus as lifelong friends, and actually, I saw someone in that small group here on campus a couple of weeks before convention. So, the world we live in is the most connected yet disconnected society ever in human history. And so, my goal is just to bring human connections all across the country and do it in a way that Small Group 19 did for me.”