Lying just east of the Cimarron River in Woods County, Freedom, Okla., is the state’s smallest city, but from there native Ben Lastly has launched a successful career in agricultural education and the FFA through high school and beyond.

Now the Georgia FFA executive secretary, Lastly donned his first blue & gold jacket in 1990 as an 8th-grader.

“When I started, I had no idea what FFA had to offer,” Lastly said. “Like most young people on the doorstep of high school, I was searching for something to belong to, and FFA provided me a chance to compete, to travel, and to grow. I felt like I belonged.”

Lastly’s FFA involvement was similar to countless others: showing and judging livestock, competing in prepared and extemporaneous public speaking, participating in leadership camps and attending state and national FFA conventions. What sets him apart from most other members is his competitive drive, which he said was unknown to him prior to FFA.

“My ag teachers helped me discover a competitive drive I never knew existed in me and let me know that it was OK to expect more from myself,” Lastly said. “I owe them all a debt I will never be able to repay.”

Lastly had three agricultural education teachers: William Hamand, Kyle Campbell and John Delaney.

 “Ben was an excellent student in and out of the classroom,” said Delaney, who now works for John Deere. “No matter if it was a class assignment, running for state FFA office or one of his animal projects, Ben was always striving for his best.”

 Lastly said he appreciates having had advisors who helped their students be active participants in multiple FFA events.

 “My five years of FFA in Freedom, Oklahoma, was full of ‘going places,’” Lastly said, “and I enjoyed that more than I can express in words.”

And the ‘going’ took this 1995 Freedom High School graduate beyond his hometown to study agricultural communications at Oklahoma State University and to service as a state officer in the Oklahoma FFA Association. Lastly served as the 1995-96 Northwest District Vice President and the 1996-97Oklahoma FFA President.

“I can say without a doubt that my FFA career was highlighted by the opportunity to serve two years as a state FFA officer,” Lastly said. “To that point in my life, I had never been pushed that hard, challenged that much, and had so much expected from me.”

In addition to the guidance provided by his parents, Jimmy Lastly and Stella Whitmire, the younger Lastly credits much of his professional success to his role models, including his agricultural education teachers and Kent Boggs, Oklahoma FFA executive secretary.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Boggs is the reason that I wanted to become an FFA executive secretary and the benchmark I look to in this profession,” Lastly said. “He taught me what it meant to be a professional, that hard work and preparation are infinitely more productive than excuses, and that if you’re not five minutes early, then you’re 10 minutes late!”

As Georgia’s FFA executive secretary, Lastly said he works to instill those same traits into his state officers. He started as executive secretary in February 2006 after more than five years as the Geogria FFA’s leadership program manager.

“I tell the state officers I work with that beyond their year in the [Georgia] Association jacket, it matters to me what kind of person they become,” Lastly said. “Just like I expect them to develop as speakers and share the message of FFA, I expect them to become viable members of a family and a community someday.”

Lastly not only “talks the talk,” he “walks the walk.” He serves on FFA/FCCLA Camp Administrative Committee for two camp facilities in Georgia, on the Georgia FFA Foundation board of directors, and on the Junior Livestock Show Catalog and Banquet Committee. He also is active with the Campus View Church of Christ in Athens, Ga.

“Anyone who competes in an FFA CDE will tell you that to be really successful at it means working harder, longer, and more creatively than your competitors,” Lastly said. “A career is the same way. The value of hard work, showing up early, avoid making excuses and treating other people with respect that I learned in the FFA shape how I perform every day of my adult life, and I’m so grateful that I have that experience to draw from.”

Delaney said he is happy about his former student’s success in the FFA and beyond.

“Ben's strong leadership skills will serve him well as he continues to mold the future leaders of tomorrow,” Delaney said.

Lastly rarely misses the opportunity to shape FFA members into strong citizens. Lastly said he advises FFA members to “get involved and do something positive.”

“What I do know to be absolutely the truth is that if young people will get involved in the FFA and do something positive, their lives will change,” Lastly said. “The handful of years that a young person gets to wear that blue & gold jacket are special; it is my sincere wish that every young person would chose to be an FFA member. This world would be a better place.”