How a former ambassador is building future leaders through scholarships and sponsorships.
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Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters episode, Adam Torres interviews Chanda Orren, Executive Assistant and Scholarship Administrator at the Texas FFA Foundation, live from the Texas FFA Convention. From growing up on a dairy farm to managing one of the Foundation’s most impactful student programs, Chanda shares how her personal FFA journey led to a mission of creating opportunities for future AG leaders.
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Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on be Our Guest to Apply. All right, today I am in Fort Worth, Texas and I’m covering the Texas FFA convention.
Let me tell you, this is one of my favorite conventions of the year, seeing thousands of Texas FFA members. Convene on the convention center and throw this amazing, amazing event. Again, four years in on, on this particular convention. And every year it gets bigger and bigger and I have more and more fun, get to make more and more partnerships and been a great time so far.
And one of the people that I’m bringing on next Chandra, I’ve been working with her and she’s responsible for bringing us out here every year with Aaron, Alejandro, and their whole team doing great work. So first off, Chandra, welcome on the show. Thank you for having me. Alright, finally, I got you on the show first year.
I’m feeling good about this. How you feeling? I’m feeling good. Yeah. So the convention is wrapping up. I know you’ve been you’ve been working, working, working. I wanna get into what the foundation’s doing your role there too. But before we do all of that where did you, where did, where did it begin for you?
Like where did your relationship with FFA begin? Oh, that’s a fantastic question. So I actually grew up on a dairy and chicken farm in northeast Texas. Little town by the name of South Hollow. Mm-hmm. I used to joke, we weren’t a full one a school, we were just a lowercase a. Yeah. And I graduated with 22 and you know, my granddad, my dad’s dad, we call him Papa C he had a really long standing history with the FFA.
Wow. And then my dad and my mom, they both actually met in I believe Lubbock at the Texas FFA convention. Stop. Stop. Yes. Total. FFA loves. Story. They kind of knew each other prior, but that’s where they really hit it off. And so there’s a lot of longstanding history there with the FFA. Mm. And so it was something that I always knew that I would be a part of.
And then I got N-F-F-A-I showed dairy cattle, mm-hmm. I did all kinds of CDs and lds and all the things. And then there was this program and my papacy and Aaron mm-hmm. Alejandro, who’s now my boss they were good friends, long friends. Mm-hmm. And he said, Hey, I think you need to apply for that.
And I said, wow. Okay. What is it? And he said, well, I, I don’t really know. He said, but Aaron’s in charge of it. Mm-hmm. And I think you need to apply for it. Okay. So I applied and I was very fortunate to be selected. Mm-hmm. They select 60 people for this program and it’s now, it’s called the Texas FFA Foundation Ambassador Program.
Wow. Mm-hmm. And so the summer between my junior and senior year. So you were an original ambassador? I was one of the first year. Oh wait, you were in the first field? Not the very first one, but I was in the first two or three classes. And explain briefly what an ambassador is so that people at home that haven’t experienced this, so No.
Absolutely. So we have a selection process. We choose roughly 70 ambassadors. Mm-hmm. And those are the students that come to the convention. And it’s, it’s very much a selection to serve mm-hmm. And to give back. And they work with all of our sponsors mm-hmm. Just like you. Mm-hmm. They make sure that they get on stage on, they shout out to the ambassadors.
They do. They’re great kids, but they all have a desire to serve. Mm-hmm. And so they wanna give back to the, the corporate sponsors, convention sponsors the scholarships. Sponsors and special guests that we welcome throughout the week. And so they get to do that at convention. They get to take them backstage, they get ’em a drink of water if they need it.
Yeah. But really the important part is that they are sharing their FFA story. Mm-hmm. And so they’re building that relationship and really showing why our people are investing or choosing to invest in Texas FFA. And so I got to serve as not the very first class, but I think we’ve, we’ve narrowed it down to, I was about the third class of ambassadors.
Hmm. I was the first girl from area six, which was pretty cool. Yeah. For my, my location. And when we were in there, in the room at, at training, we were at Corpus Christi for the convention that year Aaron shared a quote and it’s, it stuck with me ever since. Hmm. And it is that the true essence of leadership is to plant seeds and enjoy the shade of a tree that you may never sit.
Hmm. And at 17 years old, actually, I don’t even think I was 17 at the time. You were a baby. I was just a baby. But at, at 16, 17 years old, that really stuck with me. Hmm. And I thought, you know, if, if my granddad, if my dad, my mom, if me, if. If the things that I’ve taken from this organization have impacted me as much as they have mm-hmm.
Then there’s got to be an opportunity to give back. Yeah. And so I the foundation was kinda always on my mind. Mm-hmm. And I wanted to be a part of it. I knew as a volunteer at some point for forever, it was, it was gonna be the thing. Yeah. And so I thought, you know. If that’s not attainable, then the very next best thing would be being an Ag teacher.
Yeah. So I I went to school at Tarleton State University. Mm-hmm. I obtained a degree in Ag Services and Development, which is an ag education degree. Mm-hmm. And I taught for five and a half years Mm. And poured my heart and soul into all kinds of kids. Yeah. It was one of the coolest things. And I really encouraged them, the ones that I felt like would benefit from it to be a part of the Ambassador program.
Mm. So that was really awesome. And then. A few years ago, it’s, this is now my fourth convention on staff. Mm-hmm. But hold on. Well, your first convention was when I was here. Yes, that is true. We’re tied. I know it. We go way back. Go ahead. We do. We’re tied, we’re tied in our f of a experience. Not exactly, but God, yes.
No, but for sure. But I’m so glad to have been a part of it too. Yeah. But yeah, so Miss Joanne Shelton, she was in this position before me and we had a conversation and she was like, you know, at. I just don’t know how many more conventions I have left. Mm-hmm. And she was like, is that something you might, you know, be interested in?
And I said, oh my gosh, I couldn’t move to Austin, Texas. Mm. There’s no way. And they said, well, I think with everything now you could, you could work remote. Mm. And and that was it. That was the conversation. Wow. And I said, okay. And so I just was on the lookout after that, and it was very much a God thing.
Mm-hmm. It, it became available and I applied. And it was, it was a very competitive process. But I was selected to interview. Wow. And and so I came to Austin and I interviewed and with Aaron and Mr. Dale and, and Joanne. Mm-hmm. And and then now the rest is history. Mm-hmm. And I absolutely love what I do.
Mm-hmm. So that’s kind of my FFA story. I know we got kind of off topic here. No, it’s, we’re right on topic, but that’s exactly, you know, kind of how I got to where I am and Wow. And it’s, it’s been a really great journey and I’m just really excited to see where it goes over the next several years, hopefully.
So from, so from your vantage point in the planning and everything else, like what’s the vision of, of the, the foundation going forward? Like what, what are the kind of conversations that you’re having? Oh, goodness. I’m. We are just hopeful to continue creating opportunities. Mm. At the end of every dollar, every penny, everything that we do to help out the Texas F ffa mm-hmm.
There’s an opportunity for a student. Mm-hmm. And that’s something that I do love about my job and people ask often, you know, do I miss teaching? Yeah. And there are things that I do miss. There are things that I don’t mm-hmm. But the thing that I did love about teaching was getting to work with kids and getting to give them the same opportunities or better ones Mm.
Than what I had. Yeah. And so and getting to see them just transform mm-hmm. Through the FFA jacket because it is so transformative. Yeah. And so within the foundation, our, our goal is always to highlight our sponsors. To pro provide gratitude and that heartfelt thing and, and, and giving those connections to, to connect y’all, to connect our corporate sponsors with the FFA stories like mine and like so many others like the ambassadors.
’cause we have 70 kids this year that are fantastic and they all have a wonderful story to tell. And so just making those connections and then just really highlighting those sponsors, but then also doing what we can to help create opportunity for those kids. To grow and youth in leadership and development.
Oh, that’s amazing. Well, C Chanda, first off congrats to another Thank you. Amazing convention. Last thing I want you to do, look into the camera and tell people how they can learn more. How about the foundation and how they can follow up. Absolutely. So you can follow us on any of our social media.
We have the Texas FFA Foundation on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, all of the things. And then you can also go to my Texas ffa.org and find out more. Perfect. And for everybody at home watching, just so you know, we’ll definitely put some links in the show notes so that you can just click on the links and head right on over.
And speaking of the audience, if this is the first time you’ve been with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button and C Chanda. Looking forward to next year. Thank you so much. Yes, sir. Finally got you on the show. Thank you.
