Mary Schrieber – Why Are We Here?

This is Mary Schrieber's 2025 retiring address as 2024-25 National FFA Central Region Vice President. Drawing on a childhood family road trip and her own path into FFA despite having no agricultural background, she explores the opening ceremony question "Why are we here?" and arrives at the answer that FFA members exist to practice brotherhood. She explains that belief and belonging combine to create brotherhood, illustrated by a visit to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, and challenges members to commit to the mutual exchange of belief and belonging with one another.