A Time To Reflect: National FFA Convention

From State College, Pennsylvania to Louisville, Kentucky: National FFA Convention

 

Hours upon Hours of driving seems impossible, but many agriculture teachers they pack up thier kids in the the school van and take them to the National FFA Convention

held in Louisville, Kentucky. A journey made up of many fun-filled memories with the kids you call your FFA family. As well as making new connections with your fellow FFA members from all around the nation.

I was able to have a different perspective of this journey. I no longer had the student perspective of FFA in general I was know in the teacher/advisor position. To me, my eyes were more open to our actual surroundings and watching people's interactions with students and/or with other teachers or vendors. I must say one thing about this organization we have, it is amoung one of the best organizations a child could be in. I wish that every student could have a chance to be apart of this organization.

One thing that really broke my heart, was seeing some students whose jackets were old and starting to tear. It made me realize how lucky I was to be able to have a new jacket when I was in high school. Seeing these students showed me that this is probably a treat for them and that they probably had to work very hard in order to enjoy this experience.

I feel like the organization is not about putting pople who are different behind you or put them down, but more so bring them up by including everyone. I believe the students were so amazed to see people that were from different backgrounds, diversities, and states that they wanted to meet them. For instance, one girl came up to the photo booth and asked if we see people from the Virgin Islands because she was going around and getting pictures with someone from a different state so she could present these pictures to her school board when they got back from the trip. One that is such a great idea to have your students do, but second that really shows the meaning of what this convention is. It is not about the competitions but the interactions and friendships that are made along the way! I can honestly say that I couldn't of been happier to see the real meaning from both the students and advisor point of view.