Randa's Journey--Utah FFA convention!

Hey Everyone!!

There are simply not enough words to fully describe the awesome time I had at Utah's FFA convention! This was the first convention I attended as a national officer and honestly I felt right home. It was held in Cedar City, Utah which in comparison to Texas had the largest mountains I have ever seen! Convention was kicked off by the talented state officer team- Amberley, Chantz, Kaytlyn, Ellary, Emy and Chris who held the energy all the way through. Through out the week we saw some talent acts, heard from great speakers and listened to inspirational retiring addresses. We learned to be "unstoppable" with Chris, thought about "the Now" with Kaytlyn, loved the "Good Life" with Chantz, got to be "Ourselves" with Emy, figured out that "its worth a try" from Ellary and simply "Created our Success'' with Amberley..oh yes it was a phenomenal convention! Thank you Utah for an awesome experience and I can't wait to be back for NLCSO!

Convention attendees!

The Morgan FFA chapter at the dance. Thanks for dinner guys!

Visiting State officers from Arizona- Connor, Jared, Ben and Cheyenne. Yall are amazing!

Presenting workshops to Utah FFA members.

The retired state officer team. They did an outstanding job!

The new team!! Congratulations!

The Adventures of Alex: The 82nd Michigan FFA State Convention

I was blessed to spend all of last week in East Lansing, home of the MSU Spartans, for the 2010 Michigan FFA State Convention!

The State Officers did a phenomenal job and congrats on a great year Tiffany, Emily, Brittany, Haley, Megan, Brent, Kelli, Jeff, Jonathon, Beth, Bethy and Amanda! I wish all of our 506,000 members could have heard your inspiring retiring addresses and powerful reflections program. Thank you for your service and dedication!

As for Michigan FFA members…WOW! You guys never cease to amaze me. From workshops to Career Development Events, enthusiasm during sessions to excitement at the dance, I had a blast getting to know and reconnect with each of you. It was fun eating with the Beal City and Careerline Tech Center FFA and I had a blast with Nick and the Corunna ladies during session.

Whether you competed, served as a delegate, received an award or participated in all the convention activities, congratulations on a stellar convention!
And finally, to the 2010-2011 Michigan FFA Officer team – Laura, Emily K., Jasper, Kyle, Emily S., Jordan P., Karice, Andrew, Jordan H., Becky, Kelsey and Ashley – boy, do you have an exciting year ahead of you!!! Levy, Bethany, Chelsea, Chase, Randa and I all look forward to getting to know you and discovering your passion for the organization and Michigan agriculture!

You can get a behind- the-scenes glimpse of the 82nd Michigan FFA Convention with these pictures!!

Bethany's Blessings- Partnership Tours

Top 5 Things learned on Partnership Tours in N.C., VA, KS, and MO

*Companies want to hire FFA members

*We are learning knowledge in our classrooms the industry needs
*Foundation Directors are ROCKstars!

*Ag Businesses are on a mission to make a difference in the world

*We, as FFA members, have something to offer the future of these companies!

Places Cheslea and I visited:

*Wrangler

*Ag Data

*Southern States

*Cargill Meat Solutions
*Koch Industries
*MetLife Agriculture

*Dairy Farmers of America

*BIVI

*Norfolk Southern

*WIX Filters

*Husqvarna

Best Parts of Being Back in Kansas:

*Big 12 Tournament with K-STATE in the Finals....WAHOO!!!

*Driving through the Flint Hills

*K-State and Kansas City Chiefs emblems everywhere!

*Kansas City Steaks

*Feeling so close to home.

*Seeing my family!

Checkin in with Chase

The team at Syngenta Lab.

Hello everyone!

It has been a great week of partnership visits and we are only halfway done! The week began in Greensboro North Carolina where we met with Syngenta and Sponsors Board Chair Vern Hawkins (Syngenta North American President). The team was so impressed by the company and their efforts to support FFA for over 60 years! From there Levy and I traveled to Atlanta GA, where we met with Carry-On Trailers, McCormick Tractors, AGCO, and Chick-Fil-A! Below are some pictures from our experiences, including my personal highlight, a chance to be in a brand new Leer Jet 45!!! SO SWEET I wish I could have flown it so bad. Take care everyone.

AGCO Tractor
German tractor from the 1940s at AGCO
Carry On President J. Pearson

Chelsea's Travels: FFA Week in Washington

FFA WEEK IN WASHINGTON STATE

FFA Week in Washington was a blast! The entire state is beautiful and it didn't even rain while I was there until the last hour of the last day. Is that good luck or what? Washington is notorious for their rain. Other than that, Washington grows high amounts of apples, grapes, and other crops. Learning about WA agriculture was great. Meeting WA FFA members was even better.

First stop: White River

Just trust me...this will be fun.

Larry Gossen from National FFA tag teamed Washington with me. As you can see, he had a good time!

Pizza with Sumner officers Eric, Cassandra, Jordan, Becca, Katlyn, and Tristin. Michelle and Victoria, WA State Officers made several stops with us, including this stop in Sumner.

There's always time for cupcakes.

Group picture with a Sumner group who participated in my workshop.

These twins were so cute, I had to take a picture with them.

Check out the spear Rochester gave me. We took tours of the program and met parents at a dinner.

Centralia FFA officers and advisor

Ranier FFA showing off their very cool chapter t shirt

Common sight in Washington

Quick chapter officer workshop at Prosser FFA

Grandview FFA

Washington State University Experiment Station

They focus on irrigation systems and grow other crops like blueberries, hops, and flowers as well.

THE SEATTLE SPACE NEEDLE! It was so tall. (Good time to note that I'm a tiny bit terrified of heights!) It was a great view of the city and the water.

Dinner in the Space Needle with 1 of the greatest executive secretaries I've met - Jodi Monroe, her husband Rich, Mr. Gilman, and Mr. Gossen. I had fresh salmon and crab macaroni & cheese.

Mini donuts at Pike's Place

Luckily, Michelle and Victoria helped me eat them. They were good!

What's up doc?

The nation's first Starbucks. I'm not a Starbucks drinker, but it was interesting anyway.

Jodi found a friend at the market.

The Adventures of Alex

National FFA Week: New Mexico Edition


Here's a recap of my 1,400-mile trip through The Land of Enchantment in pictures! And there's more where this came from! Check out my Facebook page too.

Monday

I visited the San Juan County Fair Grounds in Farmington and had the chance to meet awesome members from the Shiprock, Aztec and Durango FFA chapters! They were an enthusiastic group that's for sure. The Shiprock Chapter made us some tasty Navajo tacos for lunch :)





Tuesday

Mr. Gill and I traveled to Las Vegas (New Mexico- not the one with a CSI) and met with the SUPER fun, active Las Vegas FFA Chapter. Mr. Ledger took us out for blue corn enchiladas with delicious green chile at the Plaza. Students gave up their snow delay to meet with us and I thoroughly enjoyed their homemade cookies! As you can see, some of the hardcore members dyed their hair for FFA Week.




After Las Vegas, we made a trip to Santa Rosa where we met with community and school leaders for lunch. I spent the afternoon having tons of fun with the Santa Rosa and Tucumcari FFA Chapters while we talked about living our values. State officers Ryan and Tell took us to the famous Blue Hole too!




Wednesday

We spent the middle of FFA week on the largest high school campus in the nation with the Carlsbad FFA Chapter cavemen! I got to meet all of the agriculture education classes and co-present with New Mexico State FFA Officers Dusty and Joseph. The Loving FFA Chapter joined us for awhile, sporting their really cool chapter officer polos.






Then we drove to Artesia for the annual chapter pie supper! I ate wayyyyy too much pie and had a ton of fun getting to know their chapter and community members. Man, can they cook!





Thursday

I spent the morning meeting faculty and staff at the New Mexico FFA Center and New Mexico State University. I got to talk with one of their agriculture education classes and discuss the future of agriculture and agriculture education. The future looks bright with the passion and enthusiasm those students bring to the classroom!

Then we drove to Deming to meet with their middle school and high school FFA members. We had some fun in a workshop and then went out to lunch. The chapter officers laughed pretty hard when I turn as red as a fire hydrant and started sweating after taking too big a bite of my tamale!





Friday

My last day of FFA Week, I spent with the chapter who welcomed me at the airport: the Moriarty FFA Chapter! Their enthusiasm, "Happy Friday" cheer and motivated chapter officer team ended my week with a bang!




Overall, I couldn't have asked for a better week! The people were phenomenal. The chapters were fantastic. And the food was... HOT (but delicious)! Thanks for welcoming me with kindness and teaching me all about passion, enthusiasm and the age old question, red or green (chile)?