"FFA Saved my Life"

Drake Boyce Oklahoma State FFA Pres. Campaign Speech 04/28/15
Chad and I would like to congratulate our son Drake Boyce on the amazing year as the Oklahoma FFA Southwest District Vice President. As we watched him throughout the year mature into an excellent state officer we knew he belonged in the Blue and Gold Jacket, the love and the passion that he has for this organization has shown even brighter at the 89th Oklahoma State FFA convention and made us very proud parents, what a fine young man our son has grown into. At the closing of the convention Drake Boyce was announced the 2015-216 State President of the Oklahoma FFA Association. As he tapped the gavel at the podium to close this year’s final session we stood in awe knowing that he has the honor to wear his BLUE and Gold Jacket and serve the organization he dearly loves and cherishes ONE MORE YEAR!We would like thank the Oklahoma FFA Members, Oklahoma FFA state Staff, 2014-2015 State Officer Team, and the 27,000 plus member for entrusting him to lead the greatest youth organization in the state of Oklahoma. We would like to express our deepest appreciation for all our family members and friends that has touched this amazing young Christian mans life and for all of the prayers, support, and congratulations in the past few days. What an amazing leader you have become son, you teach us and lead us each day in so many ways!! GO ALL OUT!! We Love You,Dad, Mom, Dixie, Amber and Ethan.
Posted by Sherry Hillman Smith on Thursday, April 30, 2015

The arena, filled with thousands of junior high and high school students, was quiet aside from the polite applause when Drake Boyce, the then Oklahoma FFA Southwest District vice president, took the stage.

“If this is my last address to the Oklahoma FFA, thank you for the best year of my life, and remember: be a leader,” Boyce said.

It, however, was not Boyce’s last address to FFA members. After the speech, he was elected to serve as the 2015-2016 Oklahoma FFA association president.

According to its website, the National FFA Organization is the world’s largest youth organization. Its purpose is to develop leaders who have a passion for agriculture.

"I never really saw my life centered around agriculture,” Boyce said. “That was until my mother married a man whose life was all about it.”

Boyce’s stepfather, Chad Smith owns a feed and fertilizer store in Cheyenne, Okla. When his mother, Sherry Smith, married Chad, Boyce began working at the Smith Ag Center.

“My stepdad had honestly instilled in me a work-ethic that I didn’t know I had before,” Boyce said.

Later that year, Boyce’s involvement with agriculture continued to expand.

"Second semester of my freshman year [in high school] I enrolled in an Ag class – only because all my friends were in it,” Boyce said. “I wasn’t expecting for my life to change, but it did.”

Aside from gaining knowledge and experiences in the agriculture industry, joining FFA allowed Boyce to be competitive in career development events such as public speaking and mock job interviews.

“We’re extremely proud of Drake,” Boyce’s mother Sherry Smith said. “Since he joined FFA, we’ve seen a tremendous impact in his life."

Despite the many awards and honors he has received, when Boyce talks about the FFA, he mentions very little about his successes. 
Instead, he credits the organization and his agricultural education teacher for impacting his life in ways he said he could not have imagined.

“Before I ever enrolled in agricultural education in high school, I didn’t really have a relationship with the Lord,” Boyce said.

Nathan Torrance, his agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor, became Boyce’s role model.

“He was a great husband, a great father and he truly had a heart for God,” Boyce said. “One day, he invited me to church and the youth group.”

Boyce said Torrance planted a seed in his life, and before his sophomore year of high school he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.

“One of the greatest skills that FFA has taught Drake, as far as life is concerned, was that it brought him into his Christian beliefs,” stepfather Chad Smith said. “We were blessed with a man named Mr. Torrance.”

Ever since, Boyce has been using the FFA to share his testimony. He calls it his mission field.

As the Oklahoma FFA President, Boyce represents and leads over 25,000 FFA members.

 “I don’t know what their story is, where they came from, or what they go home to every night," Boyce said. "I can share some light in their lives.”

Boyce attended his freshman year at Oklahoma State University with hopes of becoming a lawyer. 

Boyce’s passion for sharing his relationship with Christ has recently led him to transfer to Oklahoma Baptist University as a pastoral ministry major. 

His desire is to continue to help others seek the Lord.

As for now, Boyce has nearly six months left to serve as the Oklahoma FFA President in which he will continue to advocate for agriculture and encourage others just the same.

“I see FFA as the thing that saved my life,” Boyce said. “Now, I’m in a position where I can help others just as this organization has helped me.”