Wahl selected to serve as FFA state secretary

After four years of proudly wearing the blue and gold jacket of the FFA, Maya Wahl stood in front of a large crowd of her peers and accepted the position of Washington FFA State Secretary.

The decision provides Wahl with the opportunity to spend the next year promoting agriculture and serving as a leader for the organization that has been a vital part of her life.

The appointment to the state office came after many years of excelling as a leader in FFA and also in the classroom. Wahl is graduating from Lind-Ritzville High School this spring as a valedictorian of the 2014 class.

Wahl submitted an application and letter for the state position months ago, and made the decision to run for state office after witnessing the positive affect state offices have on students throughout the state. Wahl explained she has been fortunate enough to build relationships and friendships with many former state officers, and she was anxious to serve and give back to the organization that has provided her with so much.

“It doesn’t quite seem real yet,” Wahl said while sitting in the Ag Shop on Monday. “People at school keep walking up and calling me, ‘Madam Secretary,’ but it doesn’t seem real.”

Wahl traveled to the Washington State FFA Convention in Pullman last week with 52 of her fellow chapter members. While her classmates and friends were competing in a variety of contests, Wahl had her hands full, juggling a full schedule with the state office contest and also competing in Job Interview.

Thursday, May 15, Wahl began the state office candidate portion of the contest by taking a general knowledge FFA test and participating in a five-minute interview with the nomination committee. At the conclusion of the interview, the candidates were paired into groups of six and challenged with a group project.

Wahl said her group’s topic was based on presenting to a school board who had been considering hiring an FFA advisor and beginning an FFA program at the school for the first time.

Among Wahl’s group members was Apple Blanco, who was later elected state president on the same team as Wahl, and she is grateful for having an opportunity to work with Blanco prior to being elected to the state team.

Mixed in with these opportunities, Wahl also had to compete in Job Interview. After years in the FFA, Wahl had learned poise and professionalism, even in chaotic situations, and those traits helped her not only garner a state office, but also secure third place in the Job Interview contest.

Friday served as a time for Wahl to complete a 10-minute interview with the panel of judges and answer 13 questions on a variety of topics. Along with the other state office candidates, they waited until the evening session to hear who had made the top 10.

“I was like the sixth person called. I was so happy I made it, but also so nervous,” Wahl said.

Being among the top 10, Wahl took to the main stage the following day to present a speech in front of more than 1,000 FFA members.

Wahl focused her speech on track, one of the three sports she is involved in, and specifically focused on relay teams and about the importance of hand-offs, such as leadership and knowledge.

“My speech was about track,” Wahl said. “And that was fun to have my whole relay team there to watch.”

After giving her speech, the delegates cast their vote and the votes were combined with the candidate’s success in the earlier interviews and projects. She learned of her success when her name was called as state secretary, and excitement and gratitude overwhelmed her.

Wahl made the decision to run for a state office many months ago, and she was joined in her journey to the state office by her close friend Sydney Nelson.

The duo has been nearly inseparable over the course of their high school careers, and they have served on many teams together, including the Marketing Plan team that placed third in the nation last fall. They also spent the last year serving as district officers for District 9.

Nelson also ran for a state office beside Wahl, and while Nelson did not have the opportunity to serve alongside Wahl for the next year, the two girls are forever grateful to have had the chance to support each other during one of the most difficult and trying experiences of their lives.

The girls had been warned against running for an office against each other out of the risk of it ruining the friendship, but both girls said they knew that regardless of what happened, their friendship would remain strong.

“I’m sad she’s not going to spend the next year with me, but I’m excited to see what she does,” Nelson said of Wahl.

“Syd is so great about being supportive,” Wahl said, “It was a lot of fun to do it together… We both have completely different approaches, and yet somehow we are so similar.”

Over the course of the next year, Wahl will travel throughout the state meeting chapter members, speaking and also traveling elsewhere to serve as a leader in the field of agriculture.

At the conclusion of the year, Wahl plans to attend college in Kansas and pursue a career in agricultural communications. She believes the year serving as state officer will serve as a perfect transition into her future career.

“I hope to show what an amazing organization the FFA is and what it has done for me,” Wahl said of her goals for the next year.

Wahl is excited to serve her state and organization over the next year, simply because, “I’m not ready to give up the blue jacket, I’m not ready to be done.”