It’s almost halfway over, and yet I have loved every second of it! National FFA Convention always inspires me and serves as a great reminder why agricultural education is so important to our country and our world! This year’s theme “I Believe” reminds us of the power of passion and advocacy. I believe in the future of agriculture…do you?
Since I was a junior in high school, I have attended the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, IN every October. This convention is the largest annual convention in the country, with over 50,000 students in attendance from all 50 states and Puerto Rico! The National FFA Organization is an intra-curricular activity that continues to build on the skills and theories that students learn in their agricultural education classrooms. We have over 574,000 high school members representing over 7500 chapters nation-wide.
I have had the privilege of attending the convention in a variety of roles: from being a member of the National FFA Chorus, to a competitor in the National Prepared Public Speaking event, to serving as a delegate as a State FFA Officer, to a collegiate member recruiting FFA members to attend Cornell. I have had almost every experience possible…or so I thought. This year, I’ll be attending the convention as a CDE Convention Assistant, where I will be responsible for preparing and assisting with smoothly delivering the Career Development Events that take place at one of the locations for convention. Through this experience I have been blessed with a free trip to one of my favorite events of the year along with some really cool new shirts, which came today!
Shirts for Convention! I leave in 6 days!
I’m not entirely sure of everything I will be expected to do, but I am sure it will be an extremely beneficial experience! Just as long as I plan accordingly and get all of my work for the next two weeks done prior to leaving…if not, it could be stressful!