The banquet of the Garden Spot FFA Chapter will now come to order.

Student teaching is well past the halfway point and spring is certainly in the air!  For FFA members it is banquet season and practicing for CDE’s.  Every day I am amazed how awesome my cooperating center is.  The students I teach make what I do enjoyable not just bearable.  The faculty and staff are great and are extremely impressed in the young men and woman who come out of the ag. program.  As I said earlier banquet season is upon us.  Thursday night was the Garden Spot’s FFA banquet.

Again, I was impressed by the students’ preparation which occurred well before the banquet.  They worked diligently preparing the guest list, ordering supplies, picking up flowers, and assembling the auditorium.  It was evident this banquet was not put on by the advisors, but rather the members.  The advisors were there for well simply advice.  The members knew very well the traditions of such an event and had large shows to fill for a specific reason as well. 

The night of the banquet came and I must say the students did an excellent job!  The auditorium shined with blue and gold pride.  This year’s FFA theme is telling your story and as the night went on I think the students did just that!  Something that they did which never occurred at my FFA banquets is they recapped their year.  Many of the FFA members shared a brief overview or story of the events which the Garden Spot FFA chapter participated in.  Banquets are a time to look back on the previous year, acknowledge the accomplishments of its members, and share in good food and fellowship.  Garden Spot’s banquet encompassed all of that.

As the banquet came to a close there was still one more person to be recognized for their dedication to the program.  The Greenhand Degrees, Proficiency Award Winners, and Keystone Degree recipients had all been recognized.  The final celebration of the evening spanned a breadth of 40 years.  That is correct you heard me right 40 years!  That is going back to 1976!  Mr. Smith who is the other ag. teacher at Lampeter Strasburg is hanging it up at the end of this school year and beginning his retirement.  I cannot even describe the respect students, faculty and staff, prior students, and the community members have for this man.  Last night showed just how much an impact one person can have on the lives of others.  Sitting there in my seat as Mr. Smith was being recognized I thought just how fortunate I am to get to work with him and Mrs. Oberholtzer to learn as much as I can about agriculture education before I begin teaching my own students in my own program.  As Mr. Smith took the stage to give his remarks these words he said are the reason why I chose the profession I am in.  “I just wanted to be able to provide students with the skill sets, knowledge, and opportunities to be able to better themselves long after I have had them.”