Opportunity Cost

At the beginning of the year, my Ag. Econ. professor, Kurt Stevenson, told his class of 150 students that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a cost attached to it. For whatever choice or decision we make, something has to be given up. This is Opportunity Cost.

Kurt stressed that this doesn't necessarily have a monetary form, it could also mean time, effort, or other opportunities lost for each path we chose. This got me thinking about the choices and opportunities I've had in my life and where I might be if I had gone another route.

If I hadn't ran for a State FFA Office:
There was one point during my senior year that I thought about not running for a State FFA Office. There were several reasons why I almost didn't: I didn't want to get behind in school if I took the year off, my insurance company wouldn't cover me if I wasn't a full time student, and it was yearlong commitment that I had already dedicated my entire high school career to. However, if I hadn't ran for a State Office, I would never have had the chance to travel abroad to China, to network with students and industry personnel alike, or to know the feeling of representing something larger than just myself.

If I hadn't decided to attend Virginia Tech:
As the time was nearing for me to make decisions about my educational future, this deliberation arose: To attend Blue Ridge or not to attend Blue Ridge, that is the question. My father was strongly pushing for me to attend the local community college. I could see why: the tuition is less, I would have more one on one time with my teachers, and it was close to home. But it was the last benefit, being close to home, which gave me the incentive to NOT attend Blue Ridge. As I'm sure many graduating students must feel, I needed to have some space from my family. I've always been super close to them and I knew that another two years at Blue Ridge would make it harder for both me and them when the time came to move on to a 4 year university. Since I have been at Virginia Tech, I might have spent more of my savings, but I have met some wonderful people, experienced all sorts of diversity, and have enjoyed living on my own while still staying close to my family through phone calls and cards.

If I had continued to play piano:
The one path that I chose not to go down, and truly regret, is the decision to not continue with my piano education. I started taking piano lessons in the 3rd grade, and after 8 years I was totally burnt out. It wasn't until I sat down last spring to play my last recital piece that I learned that I have retrogressed. All the money that my parents spent on my learning timing, rhythm, and practicing scales was almost a complete waste. While I can still read the music, my ability to sit down and play almost anything is now gone. If I had continued to play piano, who knows what level I might be at today?

In an email that my stepmother, Dana, sent me, she gave me this advice: "Every path we take or choice we make teaches us something. Keep learning - that is what life is about."

Even as I write this week's blog, I think of other things I could have done differently, but also look forward to the opportunities coming up. Yesterday I delivered pumpkins to the White House, today I received a job offer, and in June, I'll be in route to Costa Rica on a free agricultural tour.

Who knows what tomorrow holds, as long as we take the opportunity to find out.

Austin and I delivering pumpkins to the Whitehouse on behalf of the Virginia Pumpkin Growers Association, Carrol County, and Virginia FFA Association.

National FFA Convention - An End and A Beginning

I remember the first time that I attended National FFA Convention. It was held in Louisville, KY and I was 14 and had never seen a city besides Richmond. I was slightly overwhelmed.

(A picture taken in the 8th grade)

Over the week, I learned to appreciate the diversity around me. I saw people walking by, and for the first time, I couldn't guess what someone did for a living, or where they might live, or make any accurate assumptions about them at all like I did at home. There was life outside the town limits of Weyers Cave.

And as I am preparing to leave for Convention this weekend, I can feel myself having that same feeling, but about college. Virginia Tech has definately opened my eyes to different types of people, and I truly appreciate the values I've learned thus far about the Hokie Spirit. But it feels good to be going back to the place where that awareness of diversity began.

However, the bittersweet part about this trip to Indianapolis, the location of convention has changed since I've started attending, is that it will be my last as a competing FFA member.

I've had the wonderful opportunity to be selected as one of the top four National Finalists in the Agriculture Education Profeciency Award Area. It is the perfect transition from former FFA member to future FFA advisor, because the next time I will probably come to convention will be with students of my own.

In fact, during this time of change, I try to think of National Convention as a metaphor for my future career.

Just as National FFA Convention has given me the opportunity to branch out of my comfort zone, meet new people, and experience new places, I hope to be that type of agriculture teacher, encouraging my students to try new things and to appreciate the diversity of agriculture.

It truly is amazing to walk down the streets of Indianapolis with 50,000 other blue jackets and realize that you represent something much larger than yourself. I made this discovery through the FFA and I hope to be able to pass that on to my future students.

So even though I am sad to see this time in my life coming to a close, I am excited about embarking on a new journey in my life, one that will one day be leading a group of students much like my 14 year old self down the street of their potential.

Little Annoyances... A Lot of Patience.

In the short time that I've been at Virginia Tech, I've begun to pick up on small things that annoy me.
Here is the list that I've created so far:

Leggings: Who created the trend of wearing leggings and ONLY leggings with just a tee shirt or sweatshirt? What a horrible, unflattering fashion statement.

The Math Emporium: A learning environment that is has the same wall decor as a hospital does not stimulate the students' minds.

Last, but certainly not least:
Skateboarders/Bicyclist/Unicyclists (Yes, unicyclists are more popular than you might think): The sidewalks are not your own personal race track. If you have a need for speed, please look into the Indy 500, not the pedestrian cross walks.

Now don't get me wrong, I love most everything about Virginia Tech, but it is just these few annoyances that sometimes get under my skin.

I've realized that this situation can be compared with working around people. Just because there may be a few annoyances in a relationship or friendship doesn't mean that it's destined to come to a screeching halt, it just means that you have to take the time to work on your problems in order to become more efficient.

I also realize that to someone, I might be that slight annoyance that I see in other people. I know that I try to not be annoying, but maybe it's part of my personality and I don't even know that it's annoying to other people. I would want to know if I was!

So I try to take that same approach with people, especially living in close proximately to so many students in my dorm.  I feel like being direct, in a a kind manner, is beneficial for all!

However, for these other annoyances, leggings with tee shirts, the bland colors of the math empo, and the skateboarders who continually try to see how close they can get to me before swerving, I guess I will just have to implement a little bit of patience.

Midterms... In More Than One Form.

The leaves are starting turn colors and drift lazily to the ground. Student outfits have morphed from breezy sundresses to scarves and sleeves. These changes could only mean one thing:
Midterms are approaching.

The actual thought of Midterms it not really that intimidating for me. I have enjoyed all my classes so far, in fact, I haven't been late or tardy to any of them... yet.
(I heard that its approximately $80 per class that you skip so I don't plan on missing any more than I have to.)
Another reason Midterms are not that scary is because I only have two of them. Most of my classes are pretty laid back. My Music in America class in one of two classes that I will have a Midterm in, and I love the professor! Mr. Cole reminds me of a retired Santa Clause turned orchestra director.
A Midterm I have already taken was in my Leadership class for the Residential Leadership Community. While I haven't heard  the results, I feel pretty confident with how I did.

However, I think that reaching the middle of my first semester also means I should do a Midterm Evaluation of my goals that I've set for myself, mainly on self discipline and personal focus . Here is my own personal Midterm:

Successes :

I’ve been doing well on my first learning objective: stop procrastination. 
While I don’t always begin the assignments on the day that they are assigned, I am sometimes completing them a day or two in advance, which is a brand new for me.  I am also making progress in my learning objective three area: following the deadlines I set for myself. Sometimes I finish assignments on Sunday night, but for the most part I don’t work on the weekends because I get the majority of my work done by Friday at 5:00pm.

Struggles:

 The greatest struggle that I’ve had so far with my action plan is to take the time to learn materials thoroughly. There are so many distractions that my original plan of working in one hour study blocks is not getting done. There have also been several times during the week where I have stayed up past 1:00am trying to get assignments done, which is not very efficient.

Suggestions from some friends:

Just keep working on time management, but instead of an hour long block of study time make a half of an hour block instead and see if that is more efficient. Don’t shut out weekend study breaks: maybe an hour or two over the weekend for study will help me work ahead even more.

Hopefully, with the help of my friends and my own self discipline, I can continue to grow in my personal goals. Wish me luck on this Midterm!