PLYMOUTH — Plymouth FFA hosted a world-famous speaker last month as part of its Self Improvement Day.
On Friday, Dec. 8, students participated in many different breakout rooms where they learned about ways to cope with issues they may be facing, how to meditate and relax, and many other practices to better themselves and their habits.
After all the rotations, students headed to the gym to be introduced to Canadian farmer, Chris Koch.
But Chris isn’t your typical farmer, He was born without arms and legs. However, this didn’t stop him from following his dreams. Growing up he played baseball and hockey with other kids and helped on his grandpa’s farm whenever he could.
After graduating high school, he moved to Calgary to pursue his secondary education. Today, when Chris isn’t farming he’s traveling the world sharing his story. He carries the message “If I Can.”
He chooses to not let his disadvantages get in the way of sharing his story and changing lives all over the globe.
“Happiness, positivity and love are all contagious,” Koch said. “Hatred, negativity and fear are also contagious. Which of these do you want to spread?
“Whatever situation you find yourself in, you’ll always get out and make the most of life.”
No matter what happens in life, figure out what YOU can do to fix the situation and make things better. Place the responsibility on your shoulders.
It might seem easier to place the blame on others or on extraneous factors and make it seem like life happens to you. That just prolongs the situation and you’ll only feel like you’re stuck, spinning your wheels.
He also challenged students, sharing the quote: “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
“You can play it safe or you can play the game,” Koch said.
Chris is a huge advocate of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and doing the things that scare you and challenge you.
“When you voluntarily take yourself out of your comfort zone, you’re getting yourself comfortable with being uncomfortable,” and that’s a good thing.
Chris also presented to South Central High School.
Between his presentations at South Central High School and Plymouth-Shiloh High School, he got to jump in the combine and harvest some field corn with Jason Putt, of Putt Farms in Greenwich.
Ohio becomes the fifth state Chris has been lucky enough to farm in, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and California being the others.
Chris even took the time to have lunch with teachers, presenters, and FFA members followed by supper with the Plymouth-Shiloh FFA alumni members.
Plymouth FFA and students and staff of Plymouth High School and Shiloh Middle School would like to thank the Plymouth-Shiloh FFA Alumni for financially sponsoring our guest speaker so our students could hear his inspiring message.
Thank you to everyone who supports their fundraisers as well, making this guest speaker possible, you are so appreciated.
Learn more about Chris and his message here: https://www.ifican.ca/about