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Youth Not Wasted On These Young

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By STEVE OTTO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 24, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I did a column on gangs in the Hillsborough County schools affecting every middle and high school in the district. Last week was one on the growing use of medicine cabinet drugs by young people in a country addicted to prescription medicines.

All in all, if you read all of that you might think the upcoming generation is headed to hell in a handbasket, although I've never understood the term or why anybody would go anywhere in a handbasket.

Maybe we need to take another look. Let me take you to the last night of the Florida State Fair and the Champion of Champions banquet. It is where more than 1,100 FFA and 4-H young people from across Florida are honored for their work with raising animals and exhibiting them at the fair. FFA, by the way, used to be the Future Farmers of America, but as the organization broadened its base into technology and sciences it went to just the FFA name.

We sat down at a table with what I first thought was Ozzie and Harriet from the old '50s TV show but turned out to be Dennis and Lori Der and their daughter, Lauren, from Plant City.

I've been to this banquet before and stood around at the auction where the students sell the animals they have spent more than a year raising. The one thing you notice right off is you feel like you are caught in a time warp.

Did She Say, 'Yes, Sir?'

The young competitors are all dressed up. You don't see a single pair of jeans hanging just above the knees by a prayer.

You talk to any of them and you get plenty of "yessirs" and "thank you, sirs."

And if you spend any time with them you quickly learn these aren't one-dimensional yahoos whose lives are wrapped up in feeding cows. They are uniformly sharp, have a sense of the world around them and do more before breakfast than most of us accomplish in eight hours in front of a laptop.

Dennis Der owns Southside Farm and Pet Supply in Plant City. Last October, it opened a brand-new building, more than doubling in size. Dennis met Lori back at Plant City High, they married and they are a part of the community's bedrock.

Spend some time looking through the files on community events in Plant City, and the Ders keep cropping up, whether it's fundraising after Sept. 11 or gathering supplies for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The entire family has long supported FFA and 4-H programs.

The Ders have two daughters. Ericka is a senior at the University of Florida, majoring in agriculture.

Look For Stanley

Daughter Lauren, a senior at Plant City High, didn't show an animal at the fair. She was there to pick up a $2,500 college scholarship.

But she will be showing her steer Stanley at the upcoming Strawberry Festival.

"This is the last year I'm going to show a steer," she said. "My dad once showed a steer he named Stanley, so I'm doing this to honor him as well."

But what really got me excited was when I asked her whether she knew where to get the best strawberry shortcake at the fair. "Yessir," she said, and she told me.

Because she also is an ambassador for the strawberry growers, I can't tell you what she said. Just say a little prayer if you go to the festival that begins this week, and that might help guide you to the right booth.

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