Two students from Yuma were recently named state officers at the 2013 State FFA (Future Farmers of America) Leadership Conference held in Tucson.
A recent graduate of Gila Ridge High School, Tanner Mellon, 19, was elected as the 2013-2014 State FFA President and recent Antelope Union High School graduate Chad Cullison, 18, was elected to be the 2013-2014 State Sentinel.
With Mellon’s father Colin also serving as the State FFA president from 1986-1987, Mellon shared that his recent appointment makes the duo the only father and son to serve in the position in the state of Arizona.
He shared that he began the process to interview for the State FFA president three months ago by preparing for speeches, interview questions and his knowledge on the history and facts of agriculture.
Gila Ridge FFA advisor Sarah Dyer said that Mellon has had the ambition of becoming the state president since she met him during his sophomore year of high school.
“I was very excited for Tanner when he was named president. All of his hard work paid off,” she said. “Tanner has competed and participate in activities all across the state. This year we buckled down and studied questions about national and Arizona FFA history. We also prepared several speeches to prepare him for this position.”
Mellon said that he was honored to be named the president to help better serve FFA chapters around Arizona.
“This organization has made an immense impact in my life and I want to have an impact on as may members as possible. I will be traveling across the nation with my team this summer and visiting every (Arizona) chapter several times this year. We all act as advocates of agriculture, FFA, and Arizona everywhere we go… I am feeling highly confident seeing how qualified and excited my entire team is, there is no challenge that we are not willing to take on.”
Mellon said that while his father was the first person to influence him to get involved in agriculture, FFA helped to keep him on that path.
“FFA and agricultural education has prepared me for my future beyond any other class,” he said. “What we learn in the class relates directly to what we will be doing for the rest of our lives and the leadership experiences are irreplaceable… I own and operate my own 125 acre farm operation, and am a fourth-generation farmer and third-generation FFA member… FFA is perhaps the leading youth organization for preparing our students for the future. We create leaders that will not only push agriculture to a brighter future but push our nation forward.”
After a year of serving as the state FFA president, Mellon plans to attend Purdue University to major in Agricultural Economics. With that, he hopes to return to the family farm (Doug Mellon Farms) or become an agricultural lawyer.
Serving as the state sentinel next year, Cullison said that he was ecstatic to be chosen for the position from the eight districts that make up Arizona FFA.
“I was full of smiles. I couldn’t even stop smiling, even when I was talking, I was still full of adrenaline, my hands were shaking. It was just an amazing moment,” he said.
Cullison said that his family was also honored to hear about his appointment as his grandfather was a national FFA officer from 1957 to 1958.
Mike Jorajuria said that in his position as Antelope’s FFA advisor, he’s always tried to encourage students to run for state office, but sometimes it’s a tough sell because students have to put their education on hold for a year to spend time traveling.
However, now that Cullison has succeeded in securing a state position, he said that other juniors and seniors in his program are now expressing interest in trying to run at the state level.
“I’m hoping he kind of got the ball rolling and we’ll have more in the future,” he said.
Cullison added that he will be extremely busy this next year as he has decided to attend the University of Arizona in the fall on top of his state sentinel duties in order to begin pursuing his degree in Agricultural Education. After being involved in FFA all four years of high school and being raised on the family farm (Cullison Farms), he said that he hopes to either work on a farm or become an agriculture teacher after college.