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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Hartington-Newcastle FFA Chapter sent six students on a trip of a lifetime to the 97th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind.
The students along with their advisor took the long overnight bus ride to Indianapolis with three other schools: Osmond, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and Wynot.
Students sign up to attend the National FFA Convention at the beginning of the school year. The students who attend have four days packed with leadership opportunities, new friends, and many new places to visit.
The participants started out the first day at the convention center. They registered and headed up to a workshop titled, “Know your Worth,” Where they learned that their talents, experiences and passions shouldn’t be diminished and how to demonstrate their worth in a professional setting.
They also attended the FFA Mall where they could purchase shirts and blankets for anything you could imagine.
The career fair had400 companies and colleges set up to speak with members who attended from across the nation.
“Being able to see the amount of students and where they all came from was the best part,” said HNS FFA member Jade Ford.
Hartington-Newcastle’s own Aaralynn Collier, was selected to be one of the 80 members in the National FFA Chorus, and flew out last Saturday in order to prepare to sing to 71,000 FFA members during the opening session.
The keynote speaker of the first session was Kevin Wanzer, who inspired members to be engaged with laughter and love and be the best they can be and no one else.
The second day was all about the convention. Students saw new farm equipment, and talked with other vendors and colleges from across the country. They also took a short trip over to see where Apache sprayers are made. The tour consisted of seeing the ET Sprayers Apache Assembly Plant, where they put together the sprayers. They had many different models that are ships all over the world, including the plant in Nebraska.
The third day members said good-bye to Indianapolis and slowly headed home, stoppiing by some new and interesting places. First was the resting place of Abraham Lincoln and visiting his mausoleum. They saw his resting place, learned about family that is also laid with him and saw statues that represented Lincoln throughout his life. Venturing over to the Presidential Museum, they saw memorabilia of Abraham Lincoln. Kora Kneifl especially enjoyed the videos that explained his life and the library, which were holograms.
Stopping for a quick bite to eat at Route 66 Motor heads, the students ventured out of their comfort zone by trying new food and having a few laughs in the museum part of the restaurant. The long trek home was broken up by a stop at the Saint Louis Archway, where students saw the artifacts of the Midwest found at the arch museum, and conquered new heights by going to the top of the arch to see the skyline of the city. The last day of the trip included a stop at the Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo., where they saw the ins and outs of the stadium, including the locker room and press box. Local students recognized at the National FFA Convention included, Tessa Haahr, who competed with her Dairy Placement Proficiency. Haahr took first place in her proficiency at the State competition, and advanced to the national competition that took place over the summer. She was placed in the bronze division at nationals and was not selected to move forward.
Once students graduate high school, FFA members can show dedication to FFA by filling out their American Degree. Lane Heimes, Carson Noecker, Daniel Steffen and Keaton Steffen were this year’s recipients from our chapter. This is the highest degree which an FFA member can receive and less than one percent of all FFA members fill out an application.
The National FFA Organization is a school-based leadership development organization of more than 1,027,273 FFA members in 9,235 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
