Olympia FFA Attends National Convention

[November 07, 2017] 

LINCOLN

On October 25th-27th, thirteen FFA members traveled to the 90th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. At this convention, FFA members attended two general sessions, picked two workshops that interested them, explored the career and college fair, and visited the FFA shopping mall for some pretty sweet apparel!

Wednesday night, the members attended the opening session where they heard from speakers like the United States Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, and key-note speaker Laila Ali.

Olympia FFA poses at the Indianapolis Convention Center.

Thursday morning we got the opportunity to learn about businesses and talk to colleges with good agriculture programs in the career and college fair. On Thursday, FFA members were able to attend workshops. Workshops are one hour sessions that are focused on more specific ideas like motivation or how to become a veterinarian.

Bree Abbott attended a workshop to teach students about how to become a vet. The biggest thing she took away from her speaker was something her leader said and that was, “To be a vet you have to have passion for animals as well as determination to help their owners.” Bree said she liked this quote and it really stood out to her.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

Olympia FFA joins the “Flying Wedge” at the NCAA Hall of Champions

FFA members not only learned about agriculture and leadership but also about Indianapolis itself. Thursday afternoon the group was able to tour the NCAA Hall of Champions which was a short five-minute walk from our hotel! We were also able to tour the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum and track. Everyone in attendance was able to kiss the bricks!

Back L-R: Miss Erdmier, Keonna Ramsdale, Dawson Banister, Dwayne Hancock, Cavit Schempp, Molly Schempp, and Shelby Payne. Front L-R: Hannah Martin, Bree Abbott, Mackenzie Phillips, Anna Davis, Cody Gibson, Josh Kindred and Mason Marquis.

FFA members-Anna Davis and Mackenzie Phillips pose with a clown monster from Hannah’s Haunted Acres

Thursday night, The Olympia FFA Chapter treated the 13 attendees to a steak dinner at Bynum's Steakhouse. After the dinner the group traveled to Hannah’s Haunted Acres. There the members rode on a haunted hayrack ride, walked through two haunted houses and even conquered the haunted corn maze. At Hannah’s Haunted Acres we were able to have fun as well as bond with our fellow chapter members!

Friday morning the group went to their final session where they heard from Ashley Willits, Eastern Region Vice President and Mick Ebeling.

Mick Ebeling is from Not Impossible Lab. His message was, “refuse to die until you have won some victory for humanity”- Horace Mann. The speech motivated students to strive to make the world better, whether it is through agriculture or anything else.

Dawson Banister said, “My favorite part of convention were the speakers, especially Mick, I could really tell he had passion for what he was doing.” After the Friday session, the group had another chance to talk to colleges and businesses of their interest, then we loaded up to head home.

National FFA Convention is an awesome experience for FFA members to grow as leaders and bring these messages from the speakers back to their chapter. Dawson also reflected on National Convention saying, “National Convention was awesome, everybody was friendly and enjoys agriculture.” Thank you Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Erdmier for making this trip possible!

[Submitted by: Anna Davis, Olympia FFA Reporter]

Watch The Keynote speeches at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZElvYJwtAc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLRApvKCF8s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfZxaIQ6Zyo