My name is Adriana Mary and I am a current senior at Live Oak High School. I am from Grizzly Flats, California originally. It is a small rural mountain town that is more known for being devastated by the Caldor Fire in 2021.  However, I now reside in Morgan Hill. I have two younger siblings and a single mother who works hard to provide for us. Growing up on a ranch, we always had a myriad of livestock including chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, and at one point in time even a horse and a donkey. I think my favorite childhood memory is going out to the farm late at night and watching the stars with my siblings which sometimes would get us in trouble but it was always worth it in the long run. As I have aged, my love for animals grew and I ended up being a part of my local 4-H where I showed hogs. Quickly, fair time became my favorite time of the year! However, when my family eventually moved down the hill to Sacramento – I was no longer eligible to show at the county fair. I looked for anything I could throw myself into to fill the fair time void. Eventually, I became heavily active in my school’s sports teams such as softball, flag-football and basketball. In addition to sports, I was also a part of the drama club and two different leadership team’s which in turn started my deep-founded love for public speaking and being in front of a crowd. As I entered high school, I delved right into the social side of things and became the friend everyone came to when they needed something.  Eventually, I made my way to Live Oak High School in the middle of junior year, which turned my world upside down – however, it made it possible for me to reconnect with my love for showing and animals. Now, I’ll be honest – before transferring, I had never heard of FFA- in fact, the only thing I knew about it was that my mom had her jacket hanging in her closet. So to no one’s surprise with the comeback of showing at the fair, I also jumped head-first into the world of FFA. This not only combined my former love of showing and public speaking but also allowed me to find new interests such as floral design. Which in turn gave me a strong, unbreakable foundation of a new community that I was desperately in need of. While the year has gone by fast, one thing I found comfort in was the importance of the dusty jacket in my mom’s closet. The iconic blue jacket has served to be an incredibly important piece in my life-while holding a short timespan it has allowed me to reconnect with who I was while also letting who I am now shine through. The crazy enthusiastic farm girl from a town in the middle of nowhere that is passionate about everything she does.The jacket has become my armor and while the school year and my journey with the jacket are coming to a close, even though I might not physically be wearing it, the blue corduroy will also be with me throughout the next chapters of my life. However, one pivotal part to who I am today is not just because of the jacket itself, but in actuality, it’s because of the person who gave it to me in the first place. Someone who took a shot in the dark with a mid-year transfer, someone who always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself, along with continuously pushing me out of my comfort zone and making me realize that who I am now, is who I have always been. Without my FFA advisor, a title that in incredibly intricate, and her consistency, knowledge, and empathy I am not sure where I’d be right now. Often referred to as mom #2, parenting besides my mom; two incredibly strong and empowering women raising another. Through early mornings, late nights, long impactful conversations, and multitudes of carpool karaoke I know that through the next major changes such as graduation and moving away, I will always have them with me. Leading me to attend Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo then transfer over to Cal Poly SLO majoring in Agricultural Education where I could not be more excited for what the future holds.