What FFA Alumni Say Mattered Most About the Skills They Built
The Long Game: How FFA Leadership Pays Off in Careers, College, and Life
Ask FFA alumni what they wish they had understood sooner and you get no single answer, but the published interviews do share a handful of themes. This article collects them with attribution, so you can see which pieces of advice come from whom, and offers a short action list. It reports what alumni say mattered most; it does not claim to know what they would change, because the sources do not ask that question.
- Key takeaway: repeated themes across interviews are saying yes to opportunities, building people skills, continuing to learn and giving back.
- Caution: each statement comes from an FFA-published interview and reflects one person’s view.
Eight Themes, With Voices
- Say yes. Scott Stump advises members to say yes to opportunities, such as extemporaneous speaking or growing a project (source).
- Aim high. Eric Shanks of FOX Sports says he advises members to bite off more than they can chew, because you do not know what you can do until you try (source).
- Keep learning. Novelist Ally Carter’s advice is never to stop learning, and that dreams need work (source).
- Participate. Janet Adkison says you get out what you put in and must take the first step (source).
- Improve with respect. Kip Tom credits FFA with teaching competitiveness with respect for everyone and helping others improve (source).
- Know your weaknesses. Gary Swan says FFA helps you identify deficiencies that can be strengthened (source).
- Pay it forward. Corey Rosenbusch supports FFA financially and encourages others who can to give back (source).
- Dream without limits. Dr. Jeneen Fields-Abrams, a plant scientist, urges members to dream with no limits (source).
What the Themes Have in Common
Seven of the eight are about behavior, not knowledge: say yes, aim high, keep learning, participate, improve, face weaknesses and give back. Only the last is an attitude. That fits the competencies NACE uses, which describe how people act, such as taking initiative and learning continuously. It suggests that members can start practicing these themes now, long before they hold a job.
An Action List
| Theme | One action this month |
|---|---|
| Say yes | Accept one new role in your chapter |
| Keep learning | Read a book or article outside your comfort zone |
| Participate | Speak once at a meeting |
| Know your weaknesses | Ask an advisor for one area to improve |
| Pay it forward | Help a younger member with one task |
The list is this site’s suggestion.
Questions Readers Ask
Did alumni say what they wish they had known?
Not in these sources. The interviews ask about advice to members, which is related but different, and this article is titled accordingly.
Whose advice should I follow?
Choose advice that matches your goals and test it. A sports-television executive and an Army general may give very different counsel because they face different challenges.
Honest Limits
FFA chose whom to interview and what to publish. The quotes show recurring ideas, not a representative survey of alumni, and they cannot show that following the advice leads to success.
On this site, Gary Swan, Corey Rosenbusch and Mark Mayfield each describe FFA’s influence in their own words. Their bios attribute those views to them and do not endorse them as fact.
Sources
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Scott Stump (2019)
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Eric Shanks (2020)
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Ally Carter (2019)
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Janet Adkison (2021)
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Kip Tom (2019)
- National FFA Organization: Past National FFA President Commits to Lifetime of Ag Advocacy (2026)
- National FFA Organization: Past National FFA President Shaped by His FFA Experiences (2021)
- National FFA Organization: On the Record: Dr. Jeneen Fields-Abrams (2020)
- NACE: What Is Career Readiness?