Lakeview High School senior Bayli Quick spoke to the Natchitoches School Board Feb. 16 as part of its “School is Cool” segment. She told them the story of how, in June 2016, a little girl’s life changed forever.
Quick was named the 2016-2017 Louisiana FFA Area II State Vice President. Within her year of service, she traveled through the state and nation promoting agricultural education and transforming the National FFA Organization.
Not only did she take her first plane ride, she was able to be a delegate at the 89th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind. The travelling didn’t stop there. She found a love for airplane rides and meeting new people. While being a state officer, she applied for the International Leadership Seminar for State Officers.
This Seminar was held in South Africa, which is over 8,000 miles from the little community of Chestnut in Natchitoches Parish. Wouldn’t that be a big change?
Fortunately, she was accepted – it was time to start preparing to leave. She had to raise a few thousand dollars to be able to go. A few ways she accomplished this was by raffling off a huge smoked ham from Grayson’s BBQ in Clarence. She then spoke to different organizations in the Natchitoches community. Closer to the end of her preparation time, she had a BBQ chicken dinner fundraiser. She purchased her plane ticket to Washington D.C., and on New Year’s Day, she left.
Quick will attend Northwestern State University in the fall to study business. She was the only one from the Louisiana FFA Association to apply for this seminar, but that was fine. She found some of her best friends on this trip, including ones from Georgia, Florida, Ohio, and Oregon.
During this seminar, Bayli learned a lot. They visited various farms, historical sites, and ate a lot of different foods. She was able to visit Mango, Avocado, Macadamia Nut, Banana, Goat, Sheep, and Wheat farms. She said most of the farms had drought and theft issues. Electrified and barbed wire fences, like you might see at prisons in the U.S, surrounded most of the farms.
Quick’s favorite part of the trip was visiting the village of Kayamandi. Located in Stellenbosch, this village was home to around 60,000 people. Although the living conditions were not very beautiful, the people that lived there had the most beautiful hearts she’d ever seen. It made her realize what cultural diversity truly was.
No matter how far away from home she may go, she will always come back. Her next adventure will be to the Oregon FFA Convention in March. If you would like her to come and speak to your organization or school, contact her at bquick@laffa.org.
Regular business was light at the meeting. Agenda items included approving teachers to travel, accepting four resignations and approving 11 new hires.
