Just like my college freshman son, Jackson, Franco Abud has been back in Spotsylvania County for Christmas. But Franco’s recent time away from home has been a bit different than Jackson’s.
Both young men graduated from high school in May: Jackson from Massaponax and Franco from Courtland.
Both also attended the Commonwealth Governor’s School and decided to go to Cornell University.
But while Jackson weathered not only the freezing temperatures in Ithaca, N.Y., this semester but also an 8:40 a.m. class — neither of which seemed especially appealing to his father — Franco was nowhere to be found on campus.
He’s taking a gap year, which, if you aren’t familiar, means he deferred college for a year.
Has the 18-year-old been using the time to surf in Southern California or carouse with wild biker babes in Sturgis, S.D.? Or did he run off to join the circus? (Side note: Is that still a thing people do anyway?!?)
I mean, I could’ve understood if he had. And would’ve wanted to hear stories about it all.
But, no. Franco has been working hard just like Jackson. He’s serving as the state vice president for the Virginia FFA, which fits right in with what he’ll major in at Cornell: agricultural sciences, with a pathway in either education or policy.
You might remember “FFA” as simply “Future Farmers of America,” but the national group the state association belongs to is now known officially as the “National FFA Organization.” It still endorses farming, but the name was updated in 1988 to “reflect the growing diversity and new opportunities in the industry of agriculture,” according to the Virginia FFA website.
Franco told me last week that his position is “easily the best thing to ever happen” in his life.
He ran for the job in June at the FFA state convention at Virginia Tech and was one of seven candidates selected to be state officers.
Franco Abud (right) gives Gov. Glenn Youngkin FFA’s highest honorary award. (Submitted photo)
So for a year, his job is to inspire, lead and represent Virginia FFA members at chapters throughout the Old Dominion.
For example, two days before we spoke, he was networking with the CEO of a company called AgriCorps, which is working to build agricultural education in developing countries.
Franco also recently presented Gov. Glenn Youngkin with the Honorary American FFA Degree, the highest honorary award from the National FFA Organization. Virginia First Lady Suzanne Youngkin also received the same award for supporting agriculture.
Aside from agriculture, Franco helps to inspire the next generation of leaders.
While participating in a recent FFA chapter visit at Mechanicsville High School with Virginia FFA President Emma Alexander of Louisa County High School, he noticed a girl named Elsa Mae sitting by herself.
So Franco invited her to sit with some of her peers, and she eventually came out of her shell.
“And I was trying to let her know: As you get your confidence, it’s your job to make sure that nobody sits by themselves because I was that person when I was in FFA, and I never really thought I had a place,” he recounted.
That’s what it means to be a state officer and to lead, Franco said: to make others feel welcome and, more importantly, to let them know they also have the job of making others feel welcome.
Now, considering Spotsylvania has its share of farms, I figured Franco must have had a long history with agriculture.
I was wrong. He pointed out that the Courtland school district is essentially suburbia, so he didn’t grow up on a farm.
The first time he heard “FFA” was in seventh grade. He was in his living room with his sister’s best friend, and she was joking about how she got to skip school to do a chicken judging contest.
“And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I really want to skip school,’” he told me, laughing.
Fast-forward to ninth grade, and Franco was in his first ag education class, small animal care.
He mainly just wanted to play with animals, and he asked his teacher, Cutler Blankenship, if he could do the chicken-judging competition so he could skip school.
“And she looked at me, and she asked me if I had ever seen a chicken, and I said no,” he said, chuckling again, “and she kind of guided me toward some other stuff and some other competitions, but that’s how I really got in.”
Though it was kind of silly, Franco said he reflects on that story because it showed him that even though he didn’t come from an ag background, he could still pursue whatever he wants in the industry.
After college, he wants to pursue a career in agriculture education. He’s not sure exactly what that would look like, but he said one of his life goals is to grow suburban ag education in Virginia toward D.C. North of the Fredericksburg area; it’s present in Prince William County, but that’s about as close as it gets to the nation’s capital.
Franco pointed out that agriculture is important because it’s the “backbone of everything we wear to everything we eat” as well as the largest industry in Virginia.
And, of course, Jackson and I sure do like eating the ice cream produced by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.
