(BANKS) — Passion is contagious, and if you spend a few minutes with Banks High School’s Robby Harris, you can’t help but feel the enthusiasm the Braves senior has for his academic, agricultural and athletic endeavors.

“Those are my top priorities,” Harris said, “and I work hard to do my best with all of them.”

Harris, who will be one of the school’s valedictorians at graduation this spring, is the senior class president, runs cross country and does track, and is highly active in Future Farmers of America. It’s because of that work, along with his dedication to it all, that BHS principal Jacob Pence nominated Harris to be Banks’ Amazing Kid.

That gesture didn’t fall lightly on the senior who saw it as an honor, as well as a reward, for all of his hard work.

“It was great, especially from the principal because he knows what the students are doing and keeps track of that even though there’s a lot going on in his life,” Harris said. “But I also feel very high achievement because it shows the outstandingness that I’ve been able to accomplish over my high school career.”

Harris lives and grew up on a generational pig farm, and due to such has embraced all the agricultural world has to offer.

As a freshman, he joined FFA, and it’s been a match made in heaven. His initial venture as part of the organization involved showing a market pig. Since then, he has fully embraced all that the organization has to offer, including travel and competitions, and has even become chapter president and an officer in the Northwest district office.

“What I love about the FFA is the amount of opportunities that it has,” Harris said. “There’s always opportunities students are able to take throughout any month of the year, and then we go to conferences in different states and compete at the national level. A huge part of my high school is going to these different conferences and being able to experience new things and meet new people around the country.”

Harris has dabbled with all that FFA has to offer, but has lately focused less on the animal side of things and more on the plant and forestry side. A year ago, his team won the state nursery competition, qualifying them for nationals, where they earned a silver medal, and where Harris placed in the top 50 individually.

The nursery and landscape competition tests students’ skills in maintaining landscape plants and related products, evaluating equipment and services, and performing landscape design. It’s one of several categories of interest to Harris, and one of the many he has competed in as a means of expanding his agricultural resume.

“I’ve learned a lot of different aspects about the agricultural industry from competing in the different contests,” he said. “I’ve competed in the nursery contest, floriculture and forestry, and gained more plant knowledge. I also got to compete in the daily cattle evaluation contest in judging dairy cows, which is something I hadn’t really done too much. Those contests helped me widen my horizons.”

And Harris is about new things.

Last year, he ran for state office in the FFA, and although he fell short of earning the honor, he found the process to be valuable and will continue to benefit from it going forward.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get it, but I learned a lot about the process,” Harris said. “Going through interviews really helped prepare me for future interviews that I’ll encounter.”

However, it’s not all school and FFA for Harris. He also competes for the school’s cross-country and track teams, and this past fall was part of Banks’ state champion cross-country team. And while the senior did his part to help secure the team title, he speaks more about his team members and their commitment to winning.

“That was a really good experience because that was the first time our team placed that high,” Harris said. “I’ve never been on a big podium like that. A lot of guys’ work and dedication to the program made that victory, and they’ve been training this whole offseason and next year I think they’ll do really well again.”

And what’s next? As one of the school’s valedictorians, Harris will be an integral part of this spring’s graduation ceremony, then it’s off to Oregon State University where he plans to study agricultural biology with a focus on conservation and sustainability, and be able to get a job in the agricultural field, and hopefully someday have a farm of his own.

But until then, it will be business as usual for the high school senior, meaning more school, more FFA, and more experiencing and enjoying the life he has and continues to build — with help from one special person.

“My mom helps me get different things accomplished and be able to stay on task,” Harris said. “She’s really helped me with all the things I’ve wanted to pursue throughout high school and has been a great help in a lot of ways.”

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