When Bleona Imeri walked into her first agriculture class as a freshman at Tri-Valley, she had no background in farming. Her parents aren't farmers. Her grandparents aren't farmers. Her family doesn't own land.

"I didn't even know what a tractor was," she said.

She was there because she'd already filled her schedule with the computer classes and core courses that fit her STEM-wired brain, and she needed one more elective to round things out. Art wasn't going to work.

"I was not artistic at all," she said. "I was like, okay, now I need one fun class. You have to take a fun class."

She also knew one thing about the ag department: the teacher, Ms. Davis, was the sister of Ms. Cooper — now Ms. Lord — who had been Bleona's favorite teacher in fifth grade. That small connection was enough to walk through the door.

What she found inside surprised her. Not the breeds or the memorization — "I wasn't good at any of the other stuff," she said — but the Creed Speaking competition. FFA's career development events include contests in public speaking, leadership, and job interviews, structured like athletic tournaments: section, district, state. Bleona had been in student council. She liked being in front of people. This felt familiar.

The Creed event asks students to recite the FFA Creed and then interpret what each part means to them — with personal examples. For Bleona, that meant telling the story of how she ended up in the room in the first place.

"I got to talk about my background and how I ended up here," she said. "And I think that's the reason I became successful in it originally."

She used that same story as her campaign speech when she ran for section office as a freshman. She won — elected Section 9 Secretary, serving her sophomore year. She held the role again, expanded her involvement, and this year ran for and won Section 9 President, one of the highest student leadership positions in the region. She also holds her State FFA Degree.

"That was my biggest thing," she said. "I feel like I can serve people best through having a position where I get to see exactly what needs to be done."

The drive behind all of it traces to a story that started long before Tri-Valley.

Bleona's grandparents — both grandfathers — left Albania and came to the United States alone, leaving their wives and children behind while they built something from nothing. Both started restaurants. Once they were established, they brought their families over. Bleona's father arrived in second or third grade. Her mother came when she was one or two. They grew up in an American household shaped by the immigrant grind — hard work, sacrifice, starting from scratch.

"Every time I do something, like if I get a bad grade on a test, I'm like, I need to work harder," Bleona said. "I have every opportunity, every chance. There's no reason why I can't do better."

She's quick to clarify: the pressure isn't coming from her parents.

"It's not keeping me up at night," she said. "But it's definitely fueling what I do."

Academically, Bleona describes herself as drawn toward "the mathy stuff." She's in AP Pre-Calculus, AP Language, and accelerated physics, with AP Physics planned for senior year. She quit track this year to focus on student council — she's class president — along with NHS, Renaissance Club, and Key Club. She's eyeing law school, though the specific practice is still open. What she knows is that she wants to help people.

Her college list reflects the ambition: UChicago, where she attended a STARS program last spring; the University of Illinois, which has one of the strongest ag programs in the country and where many section presidents end up; and WashU in St. Louis, which she likes for both the campus and the proximity to home.

When asked what would surprise people most about FFA, Bleona didn't hesitate. She remembers her own parents' reaction when she told them she was joining.

"They were like, you're gonna be a farmer," she said.

She hears it everywhere — the assumption that FFA is boots and tractors and blue-collar jeans. The reality, she says, is different. She got involved through public speaking. Her section officer teams have been almost entirely girls. The organization offers leadership, scholarships, corporate career paths, and connections that don't require anyone to set foot in a field.

"I don't have to know every chicken breed," she said, "to be just as good a leader as this person."

When asked how she'd describe Tri-Valley to someone who's never been, she called it a family.

"When one of us succeeds, we all kind of succeed," she said. "Because we're all in this little area."

A kid who wandered into ag class looking for a fun elective. An Albanian-American family that built something from nothing. A section president who turned her own unlikely story into a speech — and won with it. That’s very ‘Tri-Valley.’