Experts often say that when you "catch" your children doing something good, you should praise them right then. They say that's better than scolding them for doing something wrong.

Well, I agree, and this past two weeks I caught about 400 Saline County high school students doing something "good" at the Sweet Springs, Malta Bend, Slater and Marshall FFA banquets.

They were honored for everything from FFA leadership and scholarship to participating on contest teams.

These students, like most Saline County students, are from diverse backgrounds -- some wealthy, some poor and some middle class. They are not all the star students, star athletes or part of the "popular" crowd. Many are just good, solid kids who work hard at their FFA supervised agriculture experience (SAE) projects.

Those jobs range from poultry production to working at local fast-food restaurants. They include wildlife management, lawn mowing and working on horse farms. Despite what FFA has been in the past, very few of these students are from a farm. As many of them have told me, "FFA is a about a lot more than agriculture."

That's true. It's about leadership, accomplishments and gaining confidence in one's self.

As FFA members they get a chance to participate in speaking contests, travel to conventions, leadership seminars and meet people from many different areas.

A large number participate on contest teams, which range from poultry judging to dairy foods. Although they have to show up early or stay late at school in order to learn the information for the eventual "tests" they'll take, many have told me it's one of their favorite things about FFA.

Sweet Springs' FFA advisor Dan Hill has taught agriculture and been in charge of the school's FFA program for 30 years and is retiring this year. He and the program have had many accomplishments, including this year when the chapter was named number one in the state of Missouri. But in an interview I did with Hill last fall he said those kinds of accomplishments are nice, but not the most important.

"There are many former students I have had that have become successful productive citizens. They are good mommies and daddies and are raising the next generation of good productive kids," he said. "That's the most important thing to me."

I talk about the FFA students, because those are the ones I cover. But a quick look at The Marshall Democrat-News pages in just the past month shows we have "caught" many, many students doing something good. There are DECA students going to an international competition, music students excelling in their crafts, and hundreds of students graduating, some even receiving college scholarships after a long 13 years of studying and "doing their best." We also cover daily the accomplishments of our local athletes, who like the others, try to do their best in various competitions.

We feel fortunate at the paper that we can cover the students doing something "good." After all, you know if they are "caught" doing something wrong, they'll probably make our pages. But "catching" them doing something good is an advantage we have over big-city newspapers.

We have recently had a few young people sentenced in a horrific crime here in Marshall. And in this time with people worried about America's future, with a war still going on and our economy in a downward spiral, we tend to focus on the negative.

I hear people say, "The kids today have no respect," "Their parents aren't paying attention," etc., and I'm sure in some cases that is correct. But from what I've seen in our county, at least, I don't think that is the big picture.

Many of the graduating FFA students have told me about their future plans. They include college for some, beauty or trade school for others and entering right into the workforce for the rest.

The thing I think they all seem to have in common is that they plan on being "productive citizens," many coming back here to work in Saline County.

I, for one, would rather focus on the positive.

And from what I've "caught" lately, I think we have a very positive future.