Gratitude Builds Pride!

You know , we just appreciate so much that technology has allowed us to have a platform like this where we can bring guests on and they can share their insights , their experiences , their expertise , and then we get to put it on this incredible platform so it can be listened to around the world . And you know , it all really comes back to this point .

You know , I like to always say if agriculture has taught me anything , it's taught me . If you want to know what the future is , grow it . Well , how do you grow the future ? You got to plant the right seeds , and that's what we do with our guests , and so it is an honor . I've been excited about bringing this man back .

He's been part of our leadership series before , but we're now bringing him back officially on the podcast and I am honored . I've had a front row seat to this man's career . It has been an honor to watch him grow personally , professionally , and I'm excited for y'all to get to meet him today . Ladies and gentlemen , this is Markimidis Reyes . Is it Dr Reyes ?

Something tells me that he earned it and I know his family's proud of him , I'm proud of him , and so I wanted to make sure that I got that title exactly right . So , archimedes , I'm going to call you Archimedes through the day , but just know there's no disrespect to your being Dr S .

I'm also grateful to God for the blessings and guidances that have strengthened me , that have shaped me to make me who I am , basically lead me through this journey . I'm also thankful for the opportunities to teach the students and to mentor the future generation of agriculture .

That's something that fills my bucket , and I guess I'm also grateful for organizations like the Future Farmers of America , who instilled a purpose , a passion for agriculture in my life , and I think it's doing that for others .

I was down in Area 3 , houston area and I had a kid ask me how important is faith to leadership . That's a good question .

And I said , if you don't have a little faith , you really might not find your purpose , but a little faith , family friends , a purpose , passion for what we do and a recognition that we stand on the shoulders of somebody that went before us .

That's true , yes , sir , and you just you outlined all of that in a very simple introduction , so thank you for sharing that . Thank you , I appreciate it .

And I got to know him and then , the more I learned about his story , the more inspired I was by his grit , his resiliency , his focus on the future , his adaptability . There's just so many things that come to mind when I think of Archimedes' story , but I don't want to tell it . I want y'all to hear it .

So , archimedes , I want you to take us back and we're going to get to where you're at today . Today , you're a professor , you're an associate professor of animal science at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls . That's a long way . That's just north Texas . I mean , that's just on the north part of Texas .

and you're doing great things there , but I think that your story is one , in my opinion , of the most inspiring stories I've been privy to in my time in the FFA and in working with students , and so take us back and tell us . You know how did you end up ? I think you were Lake Travis , is that correct ? High ?

So I grew up in a small dairy and beef farm working alongside my grandparents , but growing up , that was the job of the poor . I didn't want to do farming .

When I came to the United States that's something that I was like hey , I want to be a businessman , I want to wear a suit , I want to go to a boardroom , I want to be successful in life and have some money in my pocket .

And to me at the time I thought that that was going to fill my , my bucket and and it was hard to to picture myself going back to farming because I knew how hard it was .

But once I came to the United States , I had different opportunities to be able to work alongside my dad , who was a construction worker , and then I realized that I needed to go to school rather than just keep working , because that was also a hard work , respectful work , but it was pretty tough and I said to myself maybe there's something else there for me ,

and so I decided to . We got enrolled in high school and I had the opportunity to meet an incredible ag teacher , mr Tracy Cortez . He has been a foundation , a rock in my life and my success , and I get a little teary sometimes when I talk about him because he means a lot to me .

And so he saw in me what I didn't see in myself at the time and he encouraged me to just do more . He encouraged me to lead . He encouraged me to just do more . He encouraged me to lead . He encouraged me to be competitive and , more importantly , he helped me find my voice and my values .

And so I got to Texas , to Central Texas , when I was 11 years old 10 , 11 years old and I had the opportunity to learn alongside Mr Tracy Cortez . As I started and I joined FFA , still didn't want to do agriculture okay so I started wanting to do something else and he encouraged me to pursue my dreams .

And as I pursued those dreams , I ended up finding myself back into animal science . It's where I felt the comfort of home , it's where I felt like I belong and I was able to see through the FFA that there was future in agriculture . It was more than just a poor man's job .

You're feeding the world and you're doing it as ethically as possible and as responsible as possible , utilizing all the resources that God has provided us . And it's just a story that's guided me through the days and it's taken me . Every day . I look back and I said , hey , here's where I came from , I can't forget it and I need to go back to it .

And so it's hard right , but through the opportunity of joining our local FFA chapter , I was able to develop a deep respect for raising animals .

I raised pigs and I raised goats , and so that helped me understand more of how cattle and how animals and how livestock and how things were being raised in this country and the importance of feeding the world and feeding everybody around you .

And all of that led me to pursue an animal science career and eventually I was able to pursue a master's in animal science with an emphasis in meat science , and a PhD at Colorado State University with meat science and ruminant nutrition focus .

One of our meetings was when I was already in the corps of cadets . Uh , when I , uh you , bought me my first plane ticket . I remember that and I flew from amarillo . I was there doing some dairy science education and I flew from amarillo to dallas and that was a , that was an experience .

My first flight , um , we went to meet with one of the donors , la quinta , one of the sponsors . Remember that very , very vividly . And so from there , you know , you learn to lead , you learn to grow , you learn to succeed , and and then you rely on those friends that you have that open the doors for you and for guidance .

And so I always called my my teacher . I always called those friends when I have questions of life am I doing this right ? What would you do in my case ? And so guidance . And so I always called my , my act , teacher . I always called those friends when I have questions of life . Am I doing this right ? What would you do in my case ?

And so that's a little bit about my life .

And what they don't understand is that God gives us our story because God knows there's going to be somebody just like us that needs to hear that story and we never know when that's going to happen .

But I understand that when you first came here , that as you started in elementary and middle school , that you struggled with the dialect of English and maybe didn't get the full attention of teachers that maybe you could have used , but you didn't slow down , you just persevered right through that .

And because you persevered through it they ultimately the teacher said hey , y'all really need to take note of this young man . And even at that moment they couldn't quite fully grasp just how talented you were , not only academically but how driven you were to succeed .

And I understand that there was a very pivotal point when you entered high school where you could have very easily chosen to drop out of school .

If I quit school and I work an extra eight hours a day , I'm going to make this much more money . My mom doesn't have to have a second job . Maybe if I work an extra eight hours a week , my dad doesn't have to have a second job . And so it's always a thought and question in my head Can I do more so my parents do less , Because they're getting old ?

It's my time to provide . And it came to that moment where I thought about dropping out . And it came to that moment where I thought about dropping out . And again , Mr Cortez was so pivotal in that moment where he basically promised me a little bit of income if I were to stay for six weeks .

And I remember that very vividly and that led me to racing my first goat , going to the county fair and making a little bit of money . And then my life changed , and if it wasn't for that , I probably would still be working at the same job that I was working in high school , because that's all I knew what to do and so .

But no , it was definitely an experience .

And then the thing that I'll never forget , archimedes , I'll never forget it is I remember I was at the Bob Bullock History Museum down by the state capitol and they were doing the Rodeo Austin Scholarship Awards and I'm sitting over here and I'm watching all this because we had a bunch of FFA kids getting scholarships and all of a sudden they put the microphone

up to the sky and the words I'll never forget . I never forgot it , archimedes . He said my name is Archimedes Reyes .

I'm graduating valedictorian of my class , I'm going to go to Texas A&M , I'll be in the Corps Cadet and I'm going to become an ag teacher and keep kids in school , just like me just like my ag teacher did and I never forgot that I was so inspired .

And then , when we were working with La Quinta , which is one of our major corporate sponsors , we were having a host committee meeting in Dallas and I knew our committed story and I'm like our committee is , I got to have you come to Dallas . I want you to tell that story and that's another life moment that I'll never forget .

And I remember asking you how was your flight ? And you said it was really good and you go . That's the first time I ever flown on a plane and I just thought how proud I was to know this man , that I got a front row seat to his journey .

And now , as you've heard , his journey has taken him through the ranks of college academics to now he's an associate professor of animal science there in the University of Wisconsin at River Falls . And now you get to pour into the minds of young people and hopefully become a Tracy Cortez , maybe at a different level .

I felt like I needed a person that I felt like family and a friend that I could call on , and so I said , hey , I'm going to call him . I wonder if he's willing to be in my wedding . And he decided to do it , so that was . I was so thankful for the opportunity .

But , you know , as a student and as a person in life , you need to find those mentors that stretch you .

Student and as a person in life , you need to find those mentors that stretch you right , those mentors that that push you through the failures , those mentors that assist you getting out of those failures and help you shape who you are , those mentors that put you in leadership positions and those people that help you become a leader and help you become a better

communicator through the industry or to the individuals . And so just find them . They're out there and my goal is to be one of them .

Tracy was for me and I want to be for somebody else , and I hope that someday , like you mentioned before , someday we have a person going through a podcast and saying our comedians did this for me , and so I wish somebody could say that for me at some point in life and that will be the dream right they will .

You didn't know that we were getting our dinner out of a garbage can or that I had a 14 on my ACT or $25 in my checking account . I look just like everybody else .

That meant that I had the same opportunities as everybody else and I took advantage of those opportunities and ended up at Texas Tech University on five scholarships and my education was paid for all because of that blue and gold jacket . I believe that jacket levels the playing field . You know , I like to tell people .

The jacket says come here , let me just give you a hug and here's an opportunity , and so the jacket . It does . It gives us a hug and it says here's an opportunity . Now you know , one of the things , archimedes , that we got to tell young people is adults , our job is to create opportunities . Young people , your job is to determine the outcome .

That's correct . Archimedes wasn't entitled to anything , but he took advantage of the opportunities that he had . And look at what he's accomplished . But , archimedes , go back in time and tell me because I think there's a very interesting story around how you earned your FFA jacket .

And I remember getting my jacket and I don't know if mr cortez or was the alumni that paid for it , I can't remember exactly , but I remember wearing the jacket home and my dad thought I had stole it and , um , he told me to return it it and I was just mind-blowing and I couldn't remember at the time what did I tell him ?

But I just was like this is mine , he has my name on it , it's embroidered , it's me , I promise they gave it to me and he couldn't believe me . He said we don't take anything , give it back . And I did it and I wore it with . Eventually he understood that that was me and I think I wore that jacket the full semester and I never took it off .

And then through that process of then seeing us speak in front of the group and kind of lead the group into the meeting and just have discussion boards and figure it out , plan ahead , what we were going to do for the next , between the next meeting , my dad realized that and my mom realized that that the organization was actually making me a better person .

And then they stopped pestering me about it and they supported me ever since , because after that they were like do you want to get chickens ?

It's inspiring and I think the thing that I appreciate about your story is that nowhere along the way in your story have I ever sensed anything other than gratitude . From the very beginning , from the very first time I've met you , I've just never sensed anything other than gratitude .

You were grateful for an opportunity , you were grateful for a chance to connect with people . You were grateful for a chance to excel academically , to excel with hard work , with work ethic .

And if I don't feel like I don't , I'm not going to make a change

, then there's another door where I can make a change and hopefully somebody's going to benefit from that change .

So Dr Grandin gave my wife an opportunity to pursue her master's at Colorado State University and her office , or the office for her students , was a little full and she took an extra student and she probably would have , just because of the time and commitment that he takes to mentor a grad student and she said , hey , I'm going to put them in your office .

So she I remember that she brought my wife , sat her next to me and that was her office , with her little cubicle space right next to me , and then we kind of didn't get along for a minute and then eventually we realized that we needed to help each other out because we were all in the same struggle and one thing led to the other and we ended up becoming ,

uh , you know , a couple and now we're married , have a beautiful two and a half month old daughter . So we're pretty excited about that . And dr grandin has definitely been a friend of ours , um , through the years .

I know that we can call her anytime and , uh , she'll talk to us , mentor us and guide us and things , and so she talks about opportunities that every time I've heard her speak I've heard . The first time I heard her speak was at Texas A&M .

She came in and I went to visit her with her and I went to shake her hand and be like , thanks for the great speech and it was so nice to meet you . You know , finally meet you . You hear all those things , you watch the movie , but so nice to meet you , you know , finally meet you .

You hear all those things , you watch the movie , but so finally nice to shake your hand . And she's a human just like you and I . So if you ever see her in person , go shake her hand , tell her thank you .

She opens up to you and she's just an awesome person and we talked for a few minutes and then she's like hey , thanks for coming up , thanks for reaching out . It's hey , thanks for coming up , thanks for reaching out , it's been great you have a you have a keen eye for animals , she said , and one day you're going to be successful .

I took that very , very wow . It was just kind of like yeah , I know who are you , how can you tell that I'm going to be this person ?

But I was like you know what , maybe it's just her encouraging me to be a better person , and so that encouragement led me to pursuing this career , and so when I met her again when I started my PhD , I told her about that and she's like yep , I remember you were wearing a corkadette's uniform and I said yes , I was . How do you remember this ?

But then I learned that she remembers everything . Oh , yeah she .

And he had a little farm in Fort Collins , colorado , that needed some help picking up hay and doing other things . And we were at a reciprocal meat conference and somebody said , hey , dr Paul needs help , who's willing ? And I said I'll leave early , I'll go help and I'll take care of the animals .

We picked up the hay and I noticed the farm needed some upkeep , some maintenance . And I went up to him when he came back from , you know , doing his family trips because of his parents , and I said , hey , your farm needs help , I want to take care of it . Would you trade me housing for work ? And he says I can do that .

I have a small apartment in the barn , we can set it up . And I moved in and I was . I took care of his , I fed his cattle , took care of the yard , ended up with my . With the help of my dad , we remodeled some bathrooms in his house , just because I was trying to help my dad , you know , get jobs here or there when he came and visit .

And so so we are . We have been really good friends ever since .

They're now one of our new corporate sponsors and I don't know if you recall or not , but when we did the first million dollar gift with ford Company , ford made a television commercial that had two FFA kids in it and that one of those FFA kids was Anson Pond . I did not know that .

Yeah , it's amazing how , but you know , when you were talking about doors , you know Dr Grandin and I had this conversation , and you know Dr Pond and I've had this conversation .

And another good friend of ours is Gordon Davis , as you probably know , gw , and anyway , you know , when my oldest son was in fifth grade , fourth grade , fifth grade , somewhere in there , it was bring your dad to school day . You know what does your dad do ?

And I'm thinking how am I going to explain to fourth graders and fifth graders what a development officer is ? You know , how do I explain to them that I'm a professional beggar , that you know I go ask for money and support , and you know all this stuff .

And so what I did was I went into the classroom and I went up to the whiteboard and on the whiteboard I drew a little bitty door and I asked the kids . I said how many of you could get through that door ? And they said no , sir . And then I drew a really big door and I said now how many of y'all could get through that door ?

And they said yes , sir . I said that's what I do I make doors bigger . That's awesome . I want more kids to have opportunities , I want more teachers to have opportunities and so , archimedes , when I hear your story , you understand now why it makes me so proud .

It makes me proud to see a student of ffa , through the support of a teacher and mentors , accomplish so much in life , to be grateful for the opportunity and then to capitalize on the opportunity and have these incredible outcomes .

And I just want you to know your stories and , like I said , it's probably one of my more inspiring stories that I like to share with people . And I've told your story about the plane ride many times .

I've told the story about that FFA jacket many times , and so just know that there's always somebody watching and there's a lot of people that are very grateful for the success that you've had . I know Tracy and his wife are , I guarantee you and so many others . So let's try to pour some of that into everybody else .

So I like to ask the kids I don't know about Wisconsin , I'll just tell you about Texas . I asked the kids . I said , how many high schools are in Texas ? They'll say a lot . I say , yeah , there's a lot . There's over 3,000 high schools in the state of Texas . I said now , think about that 3,000 high schools .

How many of those 3,000 are going to have a graduating class this year ? Every one of them . Think about that . They're all going to be getting out , all your college kids , by the way . Guess what . Every university , every college that has a graduating class . Guess what . Everybody's going to be out looking for a job , a scholarship or an opportunity , everybody .

So the question then becomes what's your competitive edge ? What separates you from everybody else ? Because if you're all going to be competing for attention , an opportunity , a scholarship , what's your competitive edge ? And so , archimedes , when I look at your success , I would ask you this

question If you could tell a high school kid here are three tips to be successful , what would you tell them ?

We need to be sustainable because we're losing ground to urbanization . Global trade right is one of the economical how do I put this ? But global trade is basically determining how much money we're going to make in our commodities , and so we need to be able to adapt .

We need to be able to have confidence in our skills and our professionalism to be successful , and if we have those keys , key points , we're going to be able to stand out and have an edge , and so it's important for us to be able to do that right .

Not just the technical knowledge , but also the communication , the problem solving and the leadership skills all those are critical components to be successful . And you know , I think as a teacher , I play a vital role in opening those doors .

Again , I play a vital role in making those students adaptable , have communication skills , have the ability to lead , Because in my job I set them up for competitive judging teams , I make them go to competitions , I make them lead a group .

Not just that , but I make them lead projects where they have to do speeches , they have to communicate , and my goal is to help them find their voice and their values . Mr Cortez helped me do that and I want to help that to my students , and if I can help them find their voice and their values , I think that those students are going to be successful .

Because of your value system , the choices that you've made in life have been very easy Taking care of your family , trying to help others , stand up and advocate for the work , for the industry .

Um yeah , and when you talked about changes in agriculture , you know I've got a presentation that I give called ai cubed , and the reason I did it was because , you know , depending on who you talk to , if you come from our world and we say ai , we think of artificial insemination .

If you come outside of our world , you say AI , you think of artificial intelligence . But I guarantee you there's one thing that we all have in common and that's that we need more agricultural information . That is true . Because you know it's people that don't understand the scope of our food supply . They don't understand the international trade components .

They don't understand just even the regulations here in our own country . They don't understand the economics of thin margins that farmers and ranchers live by .

You know , I tell people farmers and ranchers are some of the smartest people I know , because no one knows how to stretch their margins and gain margins better than people that are actually there farming and production agriculture .

So there's a lot of real wisdom in what you just said and , should it be another podcast , we could probably have a whole discussion just on that topic alone .

And to me , I look at , you talked about you being a professional beggar right just a little while ago . You talked about you being a professional beggar right just a little while ago , and that made me think of something that because of people like you , we have sponsors .

Because of people like you , we have people that donate to the growth and success of the youth .

There are people that do scholarships , individuals that open up those doors or that make the doors bigger or assist you to make those doors bigger , and without their support , this wouldn't be possible , and so we need their support for us to be able to have more opportunities . We need to have .

We need to provide better resources , travel , exposure to different things so our students understand what the industry is all about and so they can meet and interact with industry leaders .

When you meet and interact with industry leaders , it gives you the sense of saying I one day want to be like that person wow and so and so , to me that's , that's super , super important , and so if donors are going to be hearing this , uh , this podcast , I hope that they they can .

They understand that their dollars were well spent , at least in my part , and I hope that a lot of other students that have been able to get support through those also using them very well , and hopefully that this helps .

At the end of every dollar , there is an opportunity for a kid or an opportunity for a teacher . You and I are recording this in May 2025 . And in May 2025 , texas FFA members , texas agricultural science teachers , have access to more scholarships , more leadership development and more professional networks than ever in our history .

We're almost 100 years old and we have more today than we've ever had . And the most important thing is what our committee has just expressed , and that is gratitude . We're not entitled to any of those dollars those sponsors could give to so many incredible causes . I'm just so thankful that I'm in a position where I get to share with them stories like Archimedes .

I get to say this is what happens when you support our kids and , as a result , archimedes , you and I are making that door bigger for the people that are going to follow .

Every time he has a concert , he stops in the middle of the concert and says I want to give thanks to our veterans , I want to give thanks to our first responders , and he goes through this whole spiel and he builds so much pride around that and so when he does that .

I'm a local volunteer firefighter because I want to give back to the community , right , I got I took from that community . I want to give back to the community as much as I can and I want

to do a tenfold . And so when he says those things , he brings the community together . And when you speak at events , I feel like you're like the Cody Johnson . You bring the community together , right . And so to me that's a good concept .

That's why we start this podcast off with you know what are you grateful for today ? Because , like you said , I believe it becomes something that you can rally around , that you can build on . So thank you so much for sharing that . Ladies and gentlemen , I mean I could just keep talking to Archimedes all day long .

Again , I got to see him as a high school kid . I watched him go through Texas A&M University and put on that Corps Cadet uniform . I watched him pursue his master's and his doctoral . I get to see through social media that's the reason why I like social media . I get to see him start his beautiful family .

I get to see these doors of opportunity that are opening up for him . But , more importantly , I get to hear somebody who's very passionate about giving it back .

And we stand on the shoulders every one of us , we stand on the shoulders of the people that went before us , and go back to what we said the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit .

Our argument is there's no question , none whatsoever , that you are going to inspire , encourage , equip somebody in your classroom , that you will never know that they're going to pass that on to somebody else , and it could be that person that changes the world .

It could be that person that becomes your daughter's mentor or president , or doctor or lawyer or elected official president or doctor or lawyer or elected official .

That is the beauty of having a grateful heart , of trying to encourage , equip and empower others , and I'm just thankful that for you and I , it was because we found FFA we were able to get into that jacket . That's right .

We were able to determine an outcome of an opportunity that we were given and we're not done so somebody asked me the other day of course I've been at this a long time , 25 years and they're like well , aaron , are you about done ? Are you going to retire ? And I said no , I'm not going to ease up , let up , shut up or give up until I'm taken up .

I said I'm just kind of getting warmed up .

So we appreciate you spending a little of your time with us today . We appreciate the opportunity to bring the Growing Our Future podcast to listeners worldwide , but I'm really appreciative when we bring guests on .

Like Archimedes , again , god gave me a gift and that gift is a front row seat to this man's life , and I'm so grateful for what the organization has done , for what the teachers have done , for what mentors have done , and I'm also grateful that you were willing to come on and share . So thank you so much for joining us today .

Everybody else , here's what we're going to do . I want you to go out and do something great for somebody , encourage them , equip them , empower them . You're going to feel good about it and guess what ? Just like Archimedes said , because you do , you're going to make this world a better place to live , work and raise our families

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