State Fair Wisdom

“I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future”- Ralph Abernathy

Each year the State Officers get a chance to stay for some time at the Kansas State Fair. This time is filled with the smell of fried foods, watching the livestock shows, hearing all the screams from the carnival rides and did I mention the fried food? This year as a State Officer team we were charged with taking care of the Grand Drive animals after they were selected and take care of them throughout the week so the families and exhibitors of the families could go home and go back to school. Since during the week thousands of elementary students come through the State Fair and our Grand Drive Barn specifically, making it Kansas’ Largest Classroom, we decided to do something a bit more interactive to teach the science involved in food.

Food is a huge part of my life and I am obsessed with it! Not only do I enjoy eating it, which is why fair time is one of my favorite times of the year, but I like learning about it. So when the chance to teach students about food became available I was super excited. We had two experiments at the state fair for the kids coming through the barn. My personal favorite was an experiment showing the iron content in breakfast cereal.

In our breakfast cereal we get many nutrients that are hidden or woven in enough to the grain that we cannot taste them or see them. A great example of a nutrient that we need but wouldn’t’ just eat it on its own is iron. To show that iron is in your normal everyday breakfast cereal and to get kids involved we had them crush up a couple Wheaties in a plastic bag into the smallest pieces they could get them. Then the students took a button magnet and put it the cereal and whaa laa! Iron.

Not only were the students surprised to see the small black specks and pieces of the cereal sticking to the magnet, they had the realization that more is in our food than they would think.

But this experience benefited more than just the elementary students that day. As it seems with every time we don’t expect to get hit with knowledge and wisdom, BAM! It happens. As I was helping first graders crush up cereal, I took a look back and realized that these students were learning something from me. I was having an impression on these kids.

What a scary thought that I had an impression on these students that will be growing up and leading and teaching other people. It soon becomes this whole cycle of teaching, learning, teaching someone else the information you have gained from other people. It soon became evident to me that my knowledge and passion for food is worth nothing unless it is shared with others.

This holds true for any passion of ours. Whether we are obsessed with rebuilding engines, fascinated with making our cattle herd better with genetics, have a passion for vineyards, or are like me and love food, we need to share that passion and our knowledge of it with others because if we don’t share that knowledge and wisdom then what use is it after we pass on.

I firmly believe in never-ending self-improvement. But with that comes realization it can’t be just ourselves that are improving. We should strive to help those around us grow as well. Our nation’s youth are those individuals that will take up any challenges that we did not complete. They are the future of our country and are who will be determining if we will continue to be successful.

Take time in your life to share your passion with someone, anyone in your life. It can be your grandma, brother, best friend or random stranger, but please just share it, because we don’t know when the chances to share what we have gained and learned will end. Also, remember who holds the future and who will continue on our traditions and success’.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”- MLK Jr.

My Recipe

"The greatest risk is the risk of riskless living.”- Stephen Covey

So quotes are basically the only thing I collect, but man do I collect quite a bit of them. Not only have I saved up inspirational quotes but also funny ones, things that my mom has said, things my teachers have said, quotes on my favorite movie, etc… I have only been doing it for the past two years now and have really enjoyed always being able to look back on the word documents I have saved in case I need a little inspiration or a good laugh. But these quotes can always show me quite a bit of where I have been and are a good reminder of where I should be going. The one up top in particular is one that I try and live my life by, but you will hear more about that in the coming blogs.
So since this is my first blog I figured I should start off by telling you that I love food… A LOT! Because of this most of my blogs will probably be food themed. Now I am not one of those hard food critics or someone who knows a ton of facts about food, but it is a passion of mine and I love finding new recipes and trying them out. So to introduce myself to you, reader, I am going to tell you the recipe of my life

Ingredients:

2 Great Parents
1 Cupful of Little Brother
1 Tsp. of Little Sister
I have such a great family at home in Osawatomie, KS. They have been truly the reason that I have been so successful not only in the FFA, but in my life in general. They are always there to support me, lift me up when I am down, reign me in when I am getting to far away from my family values, and always love me no matter how many mistakes I have made. My amazing parents are Doug and Rexanne Laudan. They have raised me in such a way that I would not trade it for anything in the world. My brother and sometimes partner in crime, Rylan, is the dreamer of the family and has an extreme love of animals. He has gone crazy this year with all kinds of new stories about his first herd of goats, his first year on the East Kansas Swine Series and his new Donkey, Cletus. My little sister, Morgan, is the athlete and we joke that every drop of athletic gene went to her. She is a crazy softball, volleyball, and her favorite basketball, player and has more skills in all of those than I could ever hope for.

9 Whole Years at Holy Trinity Grade School
I grew up in a Catholic Grade School, Kindergarten through 8th grade, where I saw the 18 faces I graduated from 8th grade with every single day. It was a lot of fun having such a tight knit class, where we treated each other like family. And yes that means like brothers and sisters, who fight sometimes, but love each other in the end. We had the best cook in the whole wide world who I still visit sometimes for her famous Cinnamon Rolls, which I still don’t have the recipe for. After 8th grade 16 of us went on to Paola High School and two to St. Thomas Aquinas in Overland Park. Even though I have made lots of new friends, my best friends are still the people from Holy T(that is what we called our school) and they will be for the rest of my life.

4 All-Purpose Years at Paola High School

After graduating from small, wonderful, family Holy T, I was thrown to the big dogs of high school. I went from a class size of 18 to 148 and was not excited to start. Then the whole, kid is afraid of high school, kid finds a place/home in ag class, kid finds he actually likes high school, classic story happened. After my freshman year I was more involved and got to see that a class of 148 wasn’t so bad and now can name everyone in my class by face name recognition. I became involved in Soccer, Swim Team, Track, Scholars Bowl, Drama Club, FBLA, NHS and really liked it all. I made a bunch more friends and got heavily involved in the FFA and my academics. It was a wild, up and down ride but I have got to say I enjoyed every minute of it!

5+ Quotes Word Documents
Like I said earlier I collect a lot of quotes and I really enjoy them here are some of my favorites:

“Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors.”- Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory

“I wore a tanktop today because I thought it was summer and no one taught me how to read a calendar.” – Brittany from Glee

“I’m more confused than a cow on astro-turf.”- Alicia, one of my high school friends

“Careful driving, don’t want to hit a pterodactyl…”-Mom

"Bein' rich is having leftovers. Good leftovers make yo' tongue fly outta yo' mouth and smack yo' brains out."- Paula Deen

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?”- Marianne Williamson

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”- Martin Luther King Jr.

Favorite Things (Add To Taste)
I have a lot of favorite things in this wonderful world, so here are some of them: The Big Bang Theory(TV Show), Glee, Grape Dr. Pepper, Mashed Potatoes, U.S. Food Service Dill Pickles, Microwave Popcorn, Biscuits and Gravy, The Lion King(Movie), Avatar(Movie), Mean Girls(Movie), Risk(Board Game), Apples to Apples(Board Game), Parliamentary Procedure CDE, 4-H, Showing Pigs, the colors green and blue or any combination thereof, Giraffes, Bruno Mars, Relient K, Matt Maher, Zac Brown Band, Switchfoot, mint gum(with braces on now just mints) and eating food, lots of food!

1 Amazing Organization
I love the FFA with all of my heart. It is this organization that has truly let me discover my talents and turn them into skills that I can use throughout my life. I have gained so many lifelong friends and mentors throughout my time in the FFA. I have learned so much about myself as a person and I truly believe that this organization, this one of a kind place, has built upon the foundation that has been laid by my parents and school years and made it into the person I am today.

Directions:
Take all the ingredients and throw into a mixer. Bake in the oven for approximately 18 years. Take out of the oven and then you have the recipe for Nathan Laudan, KS FFA Reporter

So this is the recipe to my life. But remember, no two recipes are the same. Each of us is unique. Just like how everyone’s grandma’s chocolate-chip cookie recipes each have a unique touch, so do we. Remember that this uniqueness is what makes us, us, and no one can take that away from us.