9 Things You Have to Do at the National FFA Convention and Expo

9 Things You Have to Do at the National FFA Convention and Expo

With National Convention starting only a few short days from now, FFA members are getting excited about the chance to travel to Indianapolis and spend some time there rockin the blue corduroy. For some this may be our first convention experience, while for others this could be our 5th convention and we’re receiving our American Degrees. Whatever our experience, there are plenty of options for us to choose from to have the best convention ever! In fact, our state officer team has a few things you have to check off your convention to-do list!

Zach: It’s hard to believe that it’s that time of year again where roughly 60,000 of our friends in the blue jacket are frantically packing their suitcases, letting their teachers know they’ll be missing that math test and rescheduling, and strapping in for a long car ride with their pals in their chapter. While we may be traveling with some of our friends, some of us may be excited to meet friends that we’ve made through the organization. This has always been the case for me, getting the chance to meet new people from around the nation and make new friends. In fact, I made one friend in particular who I ended up spending a lot more time with than I ever would have expected. I had been tweeting at a random kid from Iowa about how we both did some serious last minute packing. Somehow, we ended up meeting up at convention and have been friends ever since. In fact, we even became state officers and college roommates together. You never know the impact the people around you may have on you, so take the time to make some new friends while you’re in Indianapolis!

Peyton: National Convention is a great opportunity to start looking ahead to your future and interact with potential colleges! Great schools of a variety of sizes and locations will be in Indianapolis. Take advantage of this chance to interact with them, learn more about their programs, and explore whether they might be a good fit for you. This is the ideal place to visit with these colleges. The representatives that schools send to National Convention are usually familiar with FFA (often even past FFA members), and will probably be able to relate very well to your experiences and interests. This is especially true if you’re interested in studying agriculture. At many other career fairs, the representatives from a school are most likely not as familiar with the agricultural program at their college as they will be here. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with the colleges that I was interested in about their agricultural programs, especially schools located out of state that I hadn’t gotten to interact with before. Whether you head to Indianapolis with future programs in mind, or simply take some time to explore the aisles full of colleges, definitely explore this resource available at convention!

Annie:

When I went my Sophomore year in High School, my favorite part of the National Convention was the World’s Toughest Rodeo. There were great riders for both broncs and bulls that you couldn’t help but stand up and cheer. Not to mention they also had great acts that would either make you bust a gut laughing or gasp from the daring tricks that bullfighters perform. You also got the chance to meet people from across the nation who love FFA just as much as you. I recommend if you have time to head on over to the World’s Toughest Rodeo, because they sure know how to have a Wild West good time!

Rachel:

After attending my first National Convention my sophomore year of high school I have always looked forward to revisiting the National FFA Expo. This giant hall is filled with businesses from all over the nation who come to hand out a lot of free stuff and have a vast amount of fun activities to participate in! Although these freebies and activities are awesome it’s also great to find out what companies are doing to improve agriculture and many of our future career paths outside of our great state of Iowa.

Cassie:

Student leadership workshops are definitely something you won’t want to miss out on this year! I had never gone to a workshop previous to my junior year, and my advisor finally convinced me to go to one. Once I got there, I wished I had attended them every year! I learned so much about ethanol and renewable fuels, and it opened my eyes to a whole new sector of agriculture. I felt like I had much more information under my belt to be a better advocate for our industry!

These workshops always have not only amazing themes, but amazing facilitators as well! Our past Iowa FFA State President, Elisa Russ, will even be leading some sessions on why we need more ag teachers, and how we can make that happen in her “#TeachAg” workshop. The workshops range from leadership, to skills, to industry information. Some highlighted workshops that I thought were interesting were: “Let’s Parli!”, “Ever See an Arc Welding Robot? Come Check it Out”, “#SpeakAg”, “U.S. Army Food Science Careers: Food for the Force”, “Your Own Right Way”, and many more! Check out the full list here: 2017 Student Leadership Workshops

Caleb: There’s this hidden gem at convention that I found my Sophomore year! It’s called the FFA Shop!! I have acquired half my closet from this place.  They have everything you would ever need.  From T-shirts to the best gifts for your advisor; I’m pretty sure they have every piece of FFA Swag ever created.  It contains T-shirts with the corniest FFA jokes.  Now you may be thinking, “Caleb that’s the place with long lines” but let me tell you.  Those lines go super quick and it’s worth the wait in line to get the best FFA Swag for the year!  Put this on the top of your “convention bucket list” to make sure you get exactly what you want before they run out!

Carli: Getting to attend National Convention my senior year was an absolutely amazing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Sadly I almost skipped out on the opportunity. The day my chapter was leaving was also the same day as our first regional volleyball game my senior year. As a four year varsity member and now senior, making the decision to skip out on potentially the last game of my career was one extremely difficult decision to make. National Convention turned out to be an opportunity of a lifetime where I gotta socialize and interact with so many amazing people. My favorite part of National Convention was walking around the Expo and talking with people from every state. I used the Conference booklet to track what states I had met with and loved the challenge of talking to random people from so many different backgrounds. National Convention was my connection to so many other members that had the same passion for FFA as me and the overall experience showed me that even when decisions are tough, you'll always know the right decision in your heart.

CD: My favorite part of national convention each and every year is the keynote speakers. As a guy who really enjoys a good story these are some of the best to listen to. From the national officers retiring address to the speakers that a brought in from all over the world to speak the motivational speeches will make you want to get up and make the world a better place, appreciate your friends and family, and touch on life lessons that take years to learn. My favorite speakers are always at the national convention every year and I look forward to seeing and hearing the stories this year as well.

Ally: Something that’s always on my bucket list: getting a picture with some super cool, giant FFA letters! These giant letters make a great photo prop and can be pretty fun to get creative with. Also- they show off your passion for FFA in big way! Be sure to find them at National Convention this year!

Forget the Perfect Bow

          Christmas is coming, y’all. I recently walked through the aisles of Target, seeing about 10 different Christmas trees to choose from, accompanied by dozens of boxes of wrapping paper. I know, I know, it’s not even Halloween yet… but bear with me. I ended up in five more aisles that night with bags for birthday presents, more wrapping paper, and some of the world’s coolest Nerf guns I have seen. Then, I began to notice all the signs in the store that said the word “gift” on it, and I counted over 14 by the time I made it to the checkout counter. I don’t know if it was simply just an accident to see all of those signs and gift-giving supplies that night, but as my cashier handed me my receipt, it clicked. Gifts.

            How powerful is it to know that each one of us, regardless of the point of life we are at, have such a unique, beautiful, and influential gift that we have been given? And no, while the gift of a giant Nerf gun would be absolutely awesome, I’m talking more about the gifts we’ve been given from the One who knows us best. The gifts of empathy, charisma, listening, observation, connection, entrepreneurial spirit, adaptability, coaching, patience, the list could go on! Knowing our purpose through our gifts is one of the most freeing things as humans we will ever come to know, but for many of us, we get tangled up by one word: Perfection.

            Think about wrapping a gift for a second. Generally, presents either come in a bag with cute tissue or wrapped in paper with the perfect creases, bow, etc. Hallmark has absolutely set the standard for gift-giving, and I fall short of that immensely. I have practiced my gift-wrapping a number of times, but every time, I think to myself, “Man, my dog could wrap this gift better than me.” No different than my incapability of nicely wrapping gifts, I think we easily lose the purpose when it comes to giving gifts, or giving away our own gifts. The point of a gift is to help somebody or make them happy, correct? Isn’t that the point of our gifts too?

“But what if I say something wrong?” This is the worry that took over my thoughts this fall throughout prepping for National FFA Convention. Between interviews, speeches, conversation and more, I was paranoid that what I had to say wasn’t going to be good enough, pretty enough, powerful enough. Reality? Some of the best practices I experienced were the practices where I owned imperfection in the form of mispronounced words, awkward sentences, hand movements and all. I knew God had given me a positive attitude and the ability to connect with all types of people, but my ability to share that with others became extremely inaccessible when I believed that perfection was in my own hands. We get caught up in the perfect bow and the deceiving outer wrapping paper, but when we focus solely on that, we miss the point. When we focus solely on how we appear to people, we miss the point. We miss the opportunity for impact, connection, and community. 

Do not waste your gifts. If there is one thing that I hope each one of you as students, members, parents, adults, grandparents and community members can see, I hope that you see yourselves as a vessel for change. A vessel for loving your community and the peers around you. You are one of seven billion contenders in our world to fight the good fight, and the only way the battle is won is by using your own gifts to the best of your ability. Your gifts are invaluable. You are invaluable. The price of perfection has already been paid for you, and it’s your turn to own imperfection. Forget the pretty bow on top, peel back those layers of wrapping paper, and let the world see your gifts. The world NEEDS your gifts!      

Erica Baier

National Officer Candidate

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

We all have heard the story of the turtle and the rabbit. The world-famous race with the turtle winning because he moved slowly and carefully towards the end, while the rabbit took a nap. The rabbit was passed by the turtle for the victory. The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race, a concept I have never totally understood until lately.

            

            Growing up, I always raced through the jobs that I did. When it came to mowing the yard, I never left high gear. I was always racing back and forth as fast as I could. When the spring came, I always tried to go as fast as I could in the tractor to keep up with my father or grandfather, usually with no luck. I would always miss a spot in the field or break down and be in the shop while everyone else kept chugging along. Until about a month ago I truly kept believing that fast and steady was the way to work, but I just couldn’t make it pay off.

           

             At the beginning of September, I was introduced to a quote by Wyatt Earp, “Fast is fine but, accuracy is everything.” When I heard this, the story of the turtle and the rabbit… still didn’t make any more sense but rather I saw a little different way of going about things. You can still go fast, but if you slow down enough to be accurate then you are ahead at the end of the day. This idea was put to the test in my feedlot class, where for the day we were breaking cattle to lead. I wanted to rush through the process and get the cattle caught, but as we worked my instructor had us all slow down and take our time. As my classmates and I did as he said, the cattle moved easier and they worked quicker than they would otherwise. By moving a little slower we were able to go fasted and result in a better product. So maybe slow and steady does or doesn’t win, you can decide. However, as we move further into our school year and tests, projects, and daily tasks loom, I would like to pass on “Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything,” Wyatt Earp.

Chase Brinegar

Southeast State Vice President