Hannah’s Happenings – Pennsylvania State Convention

“Success….One Step at a Time” was the theme of the 80th Pennsylvania State Convention on June 9th – 11th. Although I had to spend the week in Nitty Lion country at Penn State University (tough for a Buckeye!), the convention kicked off in high gear when I joined the state officers and state staff for an amazing rib dinner, during which Britney polished off an entire rack in about 3 minutes. No joke. It was madness! I spent the next morning with the nominating committee and state officer candidates as they prepared to begin the interview process. I was surprised to find that the candidates and I possessed a shared sense of humor as we played round after round of Apples to Apples (one of my favorite games!) and I even learned how to play the PA game, Dutch Blitz. Once we got convention underway that evening, there was no way to contain the excitement or energy in the convention hall. It was really cool.


The next morning I hung out for a while with the delegates as they made vital decisions for the Pennsylvania FFA, and paid a visit to my state officer candidate friends once again to learn some sweet new line-dances! :) Later that evening at dinner, I got to learn all about the auctioneering world as Nolan and Ben showed me the ropes by auctioning off some napkins (they went for $25, if you’re curious) and I tried some of Penn State’s infamous chocolate milk. Apparently, it has such a high fat content they can’t sell it anywhere else, which I would guess is probably true because it was delicious. Following the evening session, we all got our groove on at the dance. The folks from W.B. Saul definitely showed me how to get down and I witnessed some pretty wicked Michael Jackson moves from the Greenwood crew. After all the excitement, there wasn’t much else to do but try to get some rest for the final day of convention.


During the final session, the winners in each of the Career Development Events were awarded, the officers presented their retiring reflections and the 2009-2010 state officer team was announced. It was a bittersweet end to a great few days with PA FFA. And especially sad for me because it was my very last state convention of the year :( Luckily, I made some awesome new friends that I will hopefully see during the rest of my time on the road. I was also lucky enough to have a great escort during my time in PA, and I owe a big thanks to Jason for hauling me around! Oh, and I would be remise not to say congrats to the 08-09 S.O.’s on a great job. Way to go P.J., Tyler, Grace, Andy, Lance, Britney, Hannah, Laura, Jared, Tim and Abe!


Now, it’s officially time for some NLCSO’s! Get excited! :)

God Bless,
Hannah