Ashley Chandler, State President’s Retiring Address

“I Will”

When I was little, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house. She only lived a mile down the road from us, so stopping by was a near-daily occurrence. During these frequent visits, my grandma and I did all the cool grandma things. We made brownies and milkshakes, watched movies together, and we also did a lot of housework. Now, I was an energetic child, and I thought cleaning the house was the most fun anyone could possibly have. And my favorite job was sweeping the floor. Oh yeahhhhh…. I had the coolest multicolored broom anyone has ever seen! I would carefully and meticulously sweep allllll the dirt and dust into the corner so that my grandma could see just how much I had swept up. 

I can remember one day when I arrived at my grandma’s house, she remarked “Gosh, I really do need to sweep these floors today.” My eyes lit up and I ran straight for the broom closet to grab my broom shouting, “I will, I will…. I. Will!” In that moment, it felt like no big deal. Someone needed something done, and I knew that I could do it.

One of my favorite childhood stories was the story of “The Little Red Hen.” In the story there is a hen who lives with her friends, a dog, a cat, and a mouse. All the animals loved to sleep around the house, so that left the little red hen to do all the housework by herself. Throughout the story, the little red hen asks for help from her friends to do various tasks to make a cake. And when she asks, “Who will help me?” her friends always answer with “Not I.” So, despite their unwillingness, the little red hen decides that SHE WILL do the work, “and so she does.”  In the end, the little red hen captures the attention of her friends when she has cake to eat. When we look back on the story, the little red hen was the first one willing to say, “I Will” and do the hard work needed to make it happen. When she took initiative, her friends slowly began to realize what kind of reward there was at the end of the day. A whole lot of cake.

In life, there’s a lot of things for us to do – there’s a lot of “cake” to be made. Good things require hard work, and when we are the first to put in the work, others will follow. To make things happen, someone has to stand up and be the first to say, “I Will,” and in the best scenario, that’s us. 

But sometimes when there is cake to be made, we are quick to assume that someone else is already doing what needs to be done, or that someone else will get started making a change. We may feel underqualified, or like we aren’t in the right place to work towards our dream. Or maybe we are unsure what the first steps should be to make progress. 

We spend a lot of time waiting for someone to take the lead on a project or find the first steps towards accomplishing a goal. But when we stand up and say, “I Will,” people notice. They notice, and then they are excited to join us in making the change. If we want to make a change, start an event, or expand our skills, our initiative is what will set us apart. 

So, what do you want to do? What cake do you want to make?

Do you want to have more things to do as an FFA member in your chapter? Say, “I Will,” by dreaming up an idea and offering to plan a new event for members in your chapter. Are you interested in developing a new SAE or expanding the one you already have? Say, “I Will,” to applying for a grant or calling your supervisor letting them know you want to increase your hours. Do you want to sharpen your skills in a career development event? Say, “I Will,” by telling your advisor that you want to study before and after school to make it happen. 

We can be the ones to take charge of changes we want to see in our organizations, to actually go after some goals for the year, or maybe just clean the floor in our home. We can make these things happen, and step one is committing to doing them. When we are seriously willing to stand up and say, “I Will,” we inspire others to do the same. Complaining doesn’t make change, change is made by those who say they’ll do it. We can make good things happen for other people if we are the ones willing to say, “I Will.” 

Of course, once we commit to saying “I Will,” that’s only the beginning. After all, the line from The Little Red Hen says, “and so she did.” 

Throughout the year, I’ve loved sharing my passion for all things Disney with my team and all of you… and one of my favorite quotes from Walt Disney himself says this: “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they want to see you come back and do it again.” Walt Disney was an example of someone who said, “I Will” and then made it happen. But Walt didn’t make just any movie, or just any theme park… he made movies and parks with thousands of hidden details, that pushed the limits of what was possible, and that exceeded guest expectations. Every. Single. Time. 

Walt set himself apart from the competition by leaving no detail unturned. When designing his films he would send hundreds of frames back to the drawing board with critiques, his company literally invented colors that were the perfect shades to dazzle the eyes of the guests, and the company has taken careful consideration when hiding hidden details for movie viewers to discover. When Walt did things, he did them well, with absolutely no detail left unconsidered.

Walt Disney made things happen because he exceeded expectations. If we want to make things happen, we have to care about the little things.

When we think about details in our own lives, the impact that they have on our daily lives feels small. Details like the classes you take, the FFA events you attend, or the people you interact with may not feel like the most important part of our lives. However, making changes as small as these can create big waves of influence. A small adjustment to any of these details can affect the people you interact with each day, the memories you make, or even your future career choice. These changes of a small detail have the potential to make a powerful change in your own life. 

Think back to the changes you want to make in your life or community… we often want to create big changes overnight, but how does that usually go for us? We get distracted, problems arise, and we end up right back where we started. The best way to accomplish creating anything is step by step, or rather, detail by detail. If we want more supporters to attend our chapter banquet, we can start by creating a meaningful invitation to send out. If we care about our members enjoying events, we can start by asking their opinions. If we want greenhands to feel welcome in FFA, start by simply saying “Hello.”

We create something new every time we take extra care on a detail, raise the standard, and strive to exceed expectations.  Something new that stands out and sticks around. If we want to make a change that is here to stay, we gotta make the details unforgettable.

During our time at state convention, we have seen innovative chapters who are trying new events, recognized students who have built an outstanding SAE, and celebrated members who have shown some serious commitment. Now to make things happen in our own chapter, we have to recognize that WE are the people responsible for making new and incredible things happen for others and ourselves. We can use our inspiration from this week to step up our game and to seriously raise the bar in our chapters. If we care enough to complain, we certainly care enough to do something about it. Are we willing to be the ones to say, “I Will” and take on some of these new projects in our own chapters? What are the small details that can make the biggest changes? We can all dream up an idea, but actually doing it is where the value lies. We can all make good things happen for other people; we can make our contributions matter. Get up and do something. Get up and say, “I Will.”