November 28, 2022
Story by Communications Intern Bentley Love
FFA may take you on a long journey. Ryan started out Greenville red, and now he’s Waxahachie green. But he’ll always bleed blue and gold due to his FFA roots.
Ryan is the perfect example of how FFA is more than sows, cows and plows.
“The biggest thing FFA did for me was helping me grow as a person. It brings out the best in you and challenges the parts you need to grow in,” Ryan said, “Whether it was public speaking, or it was leadership roles, it takes that part out of you and brings it out into the program.”
Ryan, a 2017 GHS grad, is now an Ag teacher in Waxahachie where he is using a lot of the skills he learned through FFA and from his GHS Ag teacher Mrs. Kristi Thompson.
He supervises the school's Pig Barn, which will hold over 80 pigs.
“I feel like being an Ag teacher came naturally to me. Following the officership makes it natural to want to go into Ag education.” Ryan said. “I think the best part of being an Ag teacher is getting to see students grow. It's awesome to get to take a student that maybe doesn’t have the most confidence and help them realize their true potential. It’s really a rewarding experience.”
Ryan was a very active member of the Greenville FFA chapter, and he held the distinction of being a district and area officer. Once he had graduated, he knew that he wanted to attend Tarleton State University and study agriculture education, where he went on to be elected as one of only 12 state officers in Texas.
He says his favorite part about being a state officer was getting to travel the state and spread the word about Ag.
“Once you get up into the higher levels of leadership you start to focus less on yourself and more on others.” Driggers said, “one of my best memories has to be standing on that stage and giving my final speech. It’s your last message as a Texas FFA officer and it really is one of the most surreal experiences.”
Driggers says he credits his success to “the people I met in Greenville FFA, the teachers, and my officer team members who brought out the leadership in me.”
“As a Greenville officer, my favorite memories had to be getting to hang up my jacket for the last time. I remember being a kid and seeing the older kids who had mentored me hang up their jackets, and that truly made it special.”
“We had strong FFA ties at Tarleton. There are always FFA members coming in and out of our campus. The faculty and students at Tarleton love FFA and love the blue and gold. That has to be my favorite thing about the school.” said Driggers.
Ryan said if he could give FFA members one piece of advice, it would be: “Ask your Ag teachers how you can get involved. You may not know all of the experiences you can have in agriculture if you don’t ask and may not know all of the different avenues you can take. If it weren’t for Mrs. Thompson I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
