FFA Creed Spanish Speaking Competition

Deyanira Medina, ’28, talks about her success in the competition and what it means to her.

By: Ariana Lopez

A Spanish Language version of this story can be found here LINK

FFA members compete in the National FFA Creed Speaking Leadership Development Event (LDE), while more states have started offering an FFA Creed Speaking Event in Spanish.

Deyanira Medina, ’28, a first-year Redwood FFA member, competed in El Credo, Blue Division, in the Tulare Section Creed Speaking contest.

Speaking about the future of agriculture and how much effort workers put into their jobs for a better future is something Medina considers crucial for people to understand.

“Workers have no choice but to work every day for everything they can, for a better life for themselves and their families. Agriculture plays an important role in today’s economy, especially in food production, and it is a key factor in sustaining life on Earth,” Medina explains.

Medina says, “Farmworkers deserve recognition; they are some of the hardest-working people, and without them, we wouldn’t have the essential resources we rely on every day.”

Facing challenges and knowing how to overcome them during a competition is crucial. Medina states, “I made sure to relax before competing so that I could feel calmer and less nervous.”

Even though the competition is “only about five minutes long,” Medina must ensure everything is well-organized and that she remembers everything.

She says, “One of the challenges was that sometimes I didn’t have enough time to learn the creed, and I was worried about the time limit.”

Reciting the Creed is a longer process than it may seem. Medina says it took her “about two to three weeks to fully memorize it.”

“People should be informed about this topic because, hopefully, it makes them interested and fully recognize the importance of agriculture,” Medina says.

After finding out she won first place, Medina says, “I was really happy. I didn’t think I would get first place at all.”

The FFA Creed

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deeds—

achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years.

I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I will not deny.

I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil.

I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so—for others as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends upon me.

I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.

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