What to Look Forward to at National Convention

Chandler: I love the atmosphere! A sea of 70,000 blue jackets, some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet and a chance to hang out with friends across the country is a once in a lifetime feeling. There’s something special about unplugging from the rest of the world and being engulfed in all things FFA.

Tyler: Getting to see people from all around the U.S. is super cool. Going to the career fair, attending sessions, and going to the concert makes memories that will last a lifetime. National Convention was always one of my favorite things to go to.

Hope: I love spending time at the career fair! This is a great opportunity to build connections with industry professionals and learn about the possibilities there are for your future. I really enjoy the tours we go on as well. It’s neat to see agriculture in such a variety of forms!

Nole: I really enjoy the atmosphere! Setting foot into the convention center with a plethora of FFA jackets surrounding you all there for the same reason you are is a really cool experience. Entering Bankers Life Fieldhouse hearing the loud music blaring over the speakers and the buzz of excitement in the air makes National Convention my favorite FFA memory from high school!

Mickayla: I loved every part of national convention when I went my junior year! From spending over 14 total hours in a suburban with my classmates to attending the general sessions to even experiencing the amazing concerts. However, my favorite part of National Convention has to be the FFA Megastore! You can find anything and everything FFA related that you could ever want in there, and it’s a great chance to stock up on FFA apparel!

Grace: I’ve only been to National Convention once before, but when I went, I loved exploring Indianapolis. Growing up in a town of just 210 people, being in a city that size is rare for me. Although I could never live in a big city, spending a few days in Indy for convention feels like an exciting adventure. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that everywhere you turn you see blue corduroy jackets and have the opportunity to make connections and build friendships with people from around the country!

Natalie: My favorite part of convention is spending time with my chapter! I love being able to travel with chapter to different places all over Indianapolis. Being able to laugh and make memories with the people in my chapter is something that I still miss! My favorite memory is getting to go on a haunted hayride with my chapter the night before we left for home.

Shelby: My favorite part of National Convention is listening to our National Officer’s Retiring Address. I love hearing their words of wisdom after having the opportunity to travel the country. Another one of my favorites of convention is seeing friends from different states or meeting new ones by getting signature in the back of the convention book! In my chapter, we always play a game to see who can sign the most books throughout the week. Have a great convention!

Living to Serve,

The 2019-2020 Iowa FFA Officer Team

Slow Down, Stop, Take a Breath

It was last October and I was headed to the Northeast District Greenhand Fire-Up. My first stop was Vinton-Shellsburg High School where I met a friend who was also headed the way that I was. Seems like a good idea, right? There’s no way anything could go wrong. The drive there, I prodded my mom to drive faster because I didn’t want to be late. Eventually we got to the school with plenty of time to spare (of course). As I was moving my things from my mom’s car to my friend’s car, I noticed something. He had a huge garment bag in his backseat. Panic flooded through my body. I ran back to my mom’s car and searched it thouroughly. I was throwing things around frantically, trying my best to find this missing item. My confused and concerned mother eventually said, “Hope, what on earth are you doing?” “I FORGOT MY OFFICIAL DRESS!” I yelled back. 

I eventually got my official dress the next morning. But in that moment, I was overcome with anxiety. Nothing else mattered. It didn’t matter that my mom was helping me find a solution. It didn’t matter that I had everything else with me, because I was missing one thing. I was so focused on my mistake that I couldn’t think of anything else.

This isn’t an uncommon occurance. Sometimes we become so busy in our lives that it feels like everything is running at us at 1,000 mph and there’s nothing we can do about it. We feel lost. While I was packing, I was so worried about taking care of everything that was running at me that I forgot my official dress. Then when I noticed I forgot it, I was upset with myself. My mistake consumed me.

Something that I am still in the process of learning is that it is okay to make mistakes. It’s okay to step off the track and catch your breath every once in awhile. We don’t always have to run 1,000 mph after our tasks and duties. If you need to catch your breath, don’t hesitate to step off of that track for a minute, take a break, strategize, and hop right back on. Just last week after Greenhand Fire-Up ended, I stepped off of my track to go play with puppies. It’s as simple as that. Taking care of ourselves is vital to pursuing our successes. The next time you feel yourself being overcome by these emotions, remember to slow down, stop, and take a breath. 

Living to Serve,

Hope Brecht

2019-2020 Southeast State Vice President

SMILE: The SE District Officer team poses with the morning session of Greenhands. The Southeast Greenhand Fire-Up saw over 600 FFA members in attendance. 

Friends, Those Are Good to Have

We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of doing a presentation or speech for class and everything’s going fine, but then, all of the sudden, you lose your train of thought and awkwardly end your sentence with, “So, um, yeah…”

A few years ago, one of my friends from my home chapter found himself in this situation while we were doing a recruitment presentation to a class of eighth-graders. He was doing a great job explaining that one of the benefits of joining FFA is all the friends you can make.

He went on and on, conveying his excitement about his FFA friends, but wasn’t quite sure how to end his slide so he said, “Ok yeah… so friends… those are good to have.”

Everyone burst out laughing (he laughed along with us), and we went on with the presentation. After that, his remark became a running inside joke in our chapter, not only because it was funny but because it was true.

Ask a room full of FFA members what their favorite part of FFA is and one answer you’ll be sure to hear over and over again is the people you meet and the friends you make. At this point in my FFA career, this couldn’t be more true for me. I’ve met some of my closest friends through FFA that I know will be an important part of my life long after I take off the blue corduroy for the last time.

However, I didn’t always have this great experience with connections in FFA. During my freshman year of high school, I joined FFA not really knowing what I was getting myself into. At all my chapter’s recruitment activities, the upperclassmen told me about all the friends they had made in FFA. This sounded great, but a few months into my FFA membership, I was skeptical. I didn’t feel like I had made any new friends. That all changed when my advisor convinced me to attend Greenhand Fire Up.

While participating in the different sessions that night, I experienced my first real connection with FFA. I was so impressed by the facilitators’ energy, but I was also a little overwhelmed. As a freshman, I was very shy and awkward, so I sat quietly in workshops and observed what was happening around me. When everyone made their way to the cafeteria, I made a beeline for the other members of my chapter, relieved to be around familiar faces. My advisor, however, had other plans for us.

She gathered us around a table as we ate our post-workshop pizza and told us, “I’ve got a challenge for you all. The person from our chapter to make the most new friends and take selfies with them will get a prize from me at the end of the night.”

Upon hearing this, my first reaction was that she was crazy.

“There is NO way I’m going to run around taking selfies with completely random people!!!” I thought, “I’m just an awkward freshman, this is so out of my element…”

As I stood by our table, panicking a little bit inside, I watched the other members from my chapter begin taking selfies with everyone in sight. The more I watched, the more I realized: it didn’t look scary; it looked fun! Members from across the district and officers from across the state began to join in, so I decided I could too. For the next few minutes, I ran around the cafeteria, laughing, snapping an absurd amount of selfies and making friends with a room full of strangers.

Now, I understand that every FFA event doesn’t end in a giant selfie war, but the opportunities to make connections are endless! It can be as simple as personally inviting younger members or potential members to chapter meetings and events and making the effort to get to include them. Or it could look like attending events above the chapter level. Greenhand Fire Ups, National Convention, and the Ignite, Amplify and Transform conferences are all coming up soon. Talk to your advisor to register and when you attend challenge yourself to meet five new friends at each event.

You never know when you could make a new friend that will turn into a best friend, encounter an officer or older member that will inspire you to explore new levels of leadership or meet an adult that could introduce you to an internship or job opportunity. FFA offers us countless opportunities to connect. Take advantage of them. And when all else fails, just remind yourself: friends, those are good to have.

Your Friend,

Grace Long

2019-2020 State Reporter

The Race of a Lifetime

“And down the home stretch they go…” chances are, every one of us has heard this at least one point in our life. For me, its when I watched the Chuckwagon races back home. During the Chuckwagon race, the wagons get set, the starter fires the gun, “BANG” and off they go, through the barrel patterns the wagons race and out onto the dirt track. The wagons are flying around the track, trying to get out front to get the lead. And down the home stretch, they go, racing to get first place to take home the trophy.

In a way, we are like the chuckwagons. Racing to get out in front of everyone to be the best that can be. Trying to take home first place. But for us, time flies by too fast and our race will be over before we know it.

In our lives, we go through a barrel pattern just like the chuckwagons do. We go through the chaos and stress of trying not to hit a barrel so we don’t get a penalty, but in life, we have to learn how to deal with chaos and the struggles of trying not to knock over a barrel in fear of being set behind everyone else, in order to succeed. We all think that it’s a race to see who can get ahead in life that we don’t think to stop and take in the good moments that make the best memories. The moments of spending time with those we love and cherish the most.

For me, my barrel pattern happened during highschool. I couldn’t wait to graduate and go to college. I wanted to be done. But as the years passed and graduation got closer, I wanted everything to slow down. I realized I hadn’t spent as much time with my friends as I would like to have. I never took in the great moments as they were happening. The last few years of high school really hit hard for my class and I. We went through things no class should ever have to go through more times than what any 16,17, and 18-year-olds should have to. I started to spend more time with my friends and taking in the moment. I stopped rushing to get out of the barrel pattern and trying to get out ahead. I’m just racing the race at a pace that I am comfortable at.

When it’s our time to race out onto the track, we will know and we will be ready. But until then, soak up every moment of every day because, until that moment, we don’t know when it will be our time to race down the homestretch. Be the tortoise, not the hair. Take your time and cherish what you have, nothing ever lasts.

Focus on your race,

Lukas Bucknell

North Central State Vice President