Can you imagine a sea of 55,000 students and guests meeting together to learn about agricultural jobs, compete in Career Development Events, listen in on keynote speakers, and sculpt the future of the National FFA Organization? Well it happened in Indianapolis, Ind. at the 85th Annual National FFA Convention.
This convention held on Oct. 24-27 is the largest student gathering in the United States. Three students from the Morgan Hill FFA Chapter were lucky enough to attend.
The local chapter president, Clayton Carlson, served as one of the 48 National Delegates, where he voted on issues concerning the future of California’s FFA Organization. By doing this, Clayton represented more than 71,000 California agricultural students.
Nikki Dronek and Lysette Abarca were honored for their dedication to the organization by premiering leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. This honor is called “The American FFA Degree.” To be eligible for this degree, members must have earned and productively invested $7,500 through a supervised agricultural experience program in which they start, own or hold a professional position in and existing agriculture enterprise. Students must also complete 50 hours of community service which demonstrate their outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement.
Along with Dronek and Clayton, our chapter Vice President Steven Baird, also traveled to Indianapolis where he listened in on keynote speakers, bettered his leadership skills, learned more about National Agricultural problems and gained more knowledge about what the National FFA Organization has to offer as a whole. The National FFA organization provides leadership, personal growth and career success training through agricultural education to 540,379 student members in grades seven through 12 who belong to one of the 7,489 local FFA chapters throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
