News FFA National Convention: 15 VS chapter members attend

On Tuesday October 23, 2012, fifteen FFA members and three chaperones packed up two vans and headed for Indianapolis, IN.

We had an eight hour drive that we entertained ourselves with on the way there, and the adventure began. When we arrived, we checked into our hotel at the Comfort Suites Inn, in Brownsburg, IN. On Wednesday October 24, 2012, we all got up and headed to Carley Elk Farm. There we took a tour, saw the elk, the farm, and had the chance to buy a Tshirt or other souvenirs.

From there we then went to the Connor Prairie Living History Farm. We got to walk around the different ages of farming, buy souvenirs, see the different houses and buildings, and learn what is was like living back in that day and age. Some members bought a ticket to go up in a hot air balloon, 300 feet in the air.

After leaving Connor Prairie, we got our lunch and went to the convention center. We then got the chance to shop at the FFA Shopping Mall for a while before we headed to the first general session at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

During that time, President Kyle Henkle and Co-Reporter Emily Cashman, attended the National Chapter Award Dinner at the Marriott.

At the first general session, we heard the national FFA band and chorus perform, the national Advisor, Dr. Steve Brown speak, a presentation on feeding the world, and the keynote speaker, Scott Hamilton. After the session ended, we all walked over to Lucas Oil Stadium where we watched Brantley Gilbert and The Band Perry perform.

On Thursday, October 25, 2012 we woke up and headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There, we toured the racetrack, walked through the museum, and bought souvenirs at the gift shop. From the Speedway we went to mall to have time to eat lunch and shop if we wanted to.

We then went to the second general session at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. At the session they presented the state flags with the number of chapters and members in each state, a presentation of “Somos FFA, We are FFA”, the retiring address by Kenny Quick, and the three star national chapter awards.

After the session, some members stayed and watched the FFA Talent perform, and some went to the FFA Shopping Mall to buy more things from the various shops set up, selling a wide variety of merchandise. After the shopping, the most of the members went back to the fieldhouse to watch the third general session.

Meanwhile, Kyle Henkle and Emily Cashman went to receive the recognition for our two star national chapter award. Back at the third session they were hearing about the star finalists, the National FFA Sponsors, the retiring address by Seth Pratt, and the keynote speaker, Dr. Lowell Catlett.

After the session ended we all went back to hotel to eat pizza and root beer floats, sponsored by Farm Bureau Insurance. On Friday, October 26, 2012, we headed straight for the career fair in the morning.

We had some time to roam the career fair and the shopping area before we went to attend our first workshop. Jerry Ackerman was our first workshop speaker. He made it impossible for any other workshop to beat his; his words were very inspiring.

He spoke about ‘How will we handle our toys’, ‘How will we handle adversity’, and ‘How will we handle our time’. As well as listing off five important things to live by for the males and five for the females. After that we headed to another workshop that was presented at Washington Leadership Conference this past summer. At that workshop we learned about having a purpose in life, what that purpose is, and how can we always remember our purpose.

When that workshop was over we had the next couple hours to go through the career fair and shopping area again. At the career fair there were many booths set up from all over, whether it be businesses, colleges, or organizations, you name it, it was there.

When we got done at the career fair, we walked over to Buca Di Beppo Italian Restaurant, where we all ate our meal family style. After our dinner, we changed our clothes and headed to the rodeo at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds. The rodeo was a majority of the members favorite part of the trip. It was very fun and entertaining.

When we got back to the hotel for our last night, we all stayed up for a very long time just talking, hanging out with each other and Benton FFA, meeting new people, having fun, and making many memories.

On Saturday, October 27, 2012, we woke up bright and early and re-packed the vans. We headed into town and walked to Lucas Oil Stadium once again. There we attended the eighth general session. At the session we watched the Stars over America Pageant and thousands of members receive their American Degrees. After we saw the American Degree recipients from Iowa we left the stadium.

We all got back to the van and headed for home. We stopped to get lunch on the way. In Moline, IL we stopped at the John Deere pavillion for our members to see some of the museum and buy gifts at the shop. We arrived back in Vinton around 7:30pm. Overall it was an amazing experience, we learned many new things, made many memories we will never forget, and had a very fun time.

The students who attended National Convention this year from our chapter were, Jacob Patrilla (Treasurer), Kyle Henkle (President), Caleb Svoboda (Vice President), Dillon Brummer (Sentinel), Emily Cashman (Co-Reporter), John Eden (Officer at Large), Timothy Houtchens, Tiffany Auen, Stephanie Auen, William Greenwood, Jessica Dickerson, Riley Ries, Timothy Haerther, Karys Lillie, and Blaik Cooper. The chaperones who went with us were Louise Fleming, Susie Henkle, and Tina Eden.