KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — Earlier this month at the 2025 California State Future Farmers of America, or FFA, Leadership Conference, Kelseyville High School senior Ryan Taylor was elected to the state’s executive leadership team as secretary for the 2025-26 year.

To fulfill this role, Taylor will defer his acceptance to Stanford University for a year while he works with his fellow officers to lead the more than 104,000 FFA members statewide.

Taylor was one of 64 applicants who went through paper screening. Prior to the conference, the State FFA Nominating Committee, consisting of two FFA delegates from each of the six regions, went through the applications and video submissions narrowing the 64 to 38.

Taylor then went through seven rounds of interviews with four sequential cuts over the course of about 48 hours, and was eventually named to the slate of 12 officer candidates, two candidates per position.

Each group of two had to answer two one-minute questions on stage in front of the voting delegates. Taylor said he was honored to have been chosen.

FFA’s mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

Taylor will be part of the student leadership team that hosts conferences, mentors and trains other FFA leaders, and generally makes sure FFA continues to be a “well-oiled machine,” he explained.

“State office is a one-year commitment outside of high school. So the day after graduation, I will move out to the state officer house in Galt, where I’ll live with my five teammates for the extent of one year. We’ll work with Hugh Mooney, who is our assistant state FFA adviser,” Taylor continued.

Taylor was first introduced to FFA when he enrolled in an agricultural biology class his freshman year taught by Donelle McCallister, who is also one of four FFA Advisors. By the end of the year, Taylor’s passion for FFA had blossomed.

During the next few years, he attended FFA conferences and earned awards at speaking competitions and as a member of his welding team. He was elected to leadership roles, first for his chapter then for his region. He says each time he achieved a goal, McCallister and other advisors, including teachers Michael Zeni, Heather Koschik, and Maille McCallister, would encourage him to challenge himself at the next level.

“They've pointed out the next steps, given me the opportunities, and they've gotten me to where I am today–both because they've shown me how to do it, what I can do, and then also just giving me encouragement along the way to keep on keeping on,” Taylor said.

And by keeping on, he says he learned a lot.

“The biggest lessons were around personal growth and self-sufficiency. FFA encourages people to be the best versions of themselves that they can possibly be. For me that meant doing well in school, making sure I could at least try with every opportunity. Even if failure or rejection was there, it's just redirection to something that I'm going to end up being better at, or it's an opportunity to become better at the thing that I failed at,” he said.

He also believes FFA keeps some students engaged in school who otherwise would not be.

“FFA encompasses so many things that a classroom doesn't. It's a lot more vocational. It has more job aspects to it. It's more hands-on, and it requires a lot more critical thinking than standard education does,” he said.

He encouraged incoming Kelseyville High freshmen to get involved early.

“Everybody's scared as a freshman, and nobody wants to have that initiative to take that first step to see what is out there,” Taylor said. “A lot of them want to stay in their classrooms where they're comfortable with the teachers, where they can be with their friends, pass their classes, and move on with their life. And then usually sophomore, junior, senior years, they're no longer the littlest fish in the ocean, so they can start branching out a little bit more. But getting involved as a freshman gives you a whole extra year to explore what high school has to offer you. So I think that getting involved is definitely the best thing that freshmen can do.”