SALEM, Ohio — Luke Jennings has experienced more than a typical person his age. He was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was just a senior in high school, having to undergo a stressful few months of appointments and surgery.
While faced with this uncertain future, however, he stayed positive, and instead sought out new leadership roles in the Ohio FFA, eventually, serving as the FFA state vice president and president after receiving his high school diploma.
Jennings has had a lot of highs and lows in his life growing up. But, through those lows, he also grew as a person, living by a quote his mother says often.
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.”
An FFA journey
Jennings joined the Felicity-Franklin FFA chapter in the fall of 2017 at the start of his eighth-grade year. But even before that, he was already heavily ingrained in FFA as his mom is an FFA advisor and agriculture educator at Felicity-Franklin High School.
“It wasn’t about if I was going to join FFA. It was more so counting down the years ‘til I could get a blue jacket of my own,” Jennings said.
His first few years of FFA were like most other kids. They focused on personal development such as honing leadership abilities by serving as a chapter officer, competing in contests and growing agricultural knowledge through coursework and hands-on experiences.
It wasn’t until the end of high school that Jennings felt a desire to run for state office. After graduating high school in 2022, he was chosen to serve as the state vice president at large.
A year later, Jennings continued his leadership journey when he was appointed as the Ohio FFA’s state president for 2023-2024.
“Luke is one of those individuals who is a born leader,” said Katy Endsley, program manager for Ohio FFA. “He has such determination and perseverance.”
Endsley worked with Jennings during the two years he served as a state officer and witnessed his growth as a leader.
In his first year as a state officer, Endlsey saw Jennings connect with numerous FFA members. But, when Jennings was appointed president, “he was able to take that leadership to the next level, and not only connect with members across the state but also lead a team of individuals,” Endsley said.
During his term as president, the Ohio FFA grew exponentially. The association had nearly 11,000 members, guests and advisors at its state convention in May, breaking the attendance record. Several Ohio FFA members also won awards at the 2023 National FFA Convention last November.
Despite the honor of serving as president, Jennings’s favorite memories from his time in FFA are the days he spent at the Ohio FFA’s camp Muskingum — known as the happiest place on Earth.
Jennings attended the camp for a month in the summer during his two years as a state officer. He hosted educational workshops, interacted with FFA members from across Ohio and participated in activities like archery, volleyball and water sports on Leesville Lake.
Throughout his time in high school and FFA, however, Jennings underwent a stressful medical journey — one that would not define his life, but rather, teach him how to live.
Diagnosis
It all began one night in the fall of his senior year when Jennings and his sister took a trip to Louisville, Kentucky, for the North American International Livestock Exposition show. They were road-tripping from Ohio to Kentucky in a camper to show heifers at the annual event when the trip took a turn for the worst.
Before 2021, Jennings had never had any major health issues. But when his sister found him seizing in his sleep, she quickly called an ambulance.
The hospital conducted several blood tests and came to the conclusion that his blood sugar had crashed which caused a short seizure. After several more appointments and scans, Jennings, however, opted to have an MRI done to make sure everything was structurally sound in his brain.
Jennings found out he had a brain tumor in December 2021. The benign tumor measured 1 inch long by 2 inches wide by 1 inch deep, nestled in the right frontal lobe of his brain.
The first two weeks after his diagnosis were terrifying, Jennings said, especially around the holidays, not knowing what the future holds. But, he chose not to give into fear.
“At some point over Christmas break, I remember letting go of that fear and realizing that I could either let the fear control me or I could realize that there’s nothing I can do about it right now in this moment today, but whatever is next, we’ll handle that one step at a time,” Jennings said.
He had the tumor successfully removed in January 2022 at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, part of Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.
Today, Jennings still has a small, grade one benign brain tumor — a slow-growing tumor that is unlikely to spread to other parts of the brain. Medical professionals do not expect the tumor to come back.
Endlsey knew about Jennings’ diagnosis, before he became a state officer, because of her connections to his family. But most people who worked with Jennings weren’t aware of his medical journey.
“The interesting thing about Luke is he never really talked about it. It’s not something he dwelled upon,” Endsley said.
It wasn’t until his retiring address as the Ohio FFA president that he shared his story openly.
“A lot of people were surprised to know (about his brain cancer) and it was really impactful with our members, advisors and the guests in attendance because I think they see somebody like Luke on stage, and they assume that they’ve had it easy and they haven’t gone through struggles,” Endlsey said. “When he opened up about that journey a lot of people were really touched.”
Although Jennings’s journey in FFA is done, he is already looking forward to his next adventure where he will attend Ohio State University for his sophomore year, studying agriscience education. His advice to future and current FFA members is to get out of their comfort zone.
“Growing up, I was definitely a person, and still am to this day, that likes to play it safe sometimes and would rather do the easy option or the thing that’s the most comfortable,” Jennings said. “But one of my friends and role models’ biggest quote in life is there’s no growth in the comfort zone, no comfort in the growth zone.”
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
