Paul's Illinois FFA State Convention

Illinois FFA State Convention
Illinois knows how to have a great convention! The convention was about 3,500 students in a loud arena with some pumped up students. I spent a lot of quality time with Andrew, Annie, Austin, Ben, and Clay during the week. The made some videos for convention that were hilarious. I loved how convention was very professional and at the same time still unique in so many aspects.

I also spent some time with some of my favorite people while in Illinois. Jeremy and Samantha came to visit for a night and it was a blast getting to spend some time with them and catch up. Corey and I chatted it up at breakfast and shared some stories from times in FFA. Kaitlin and I also caught up on old times together. And who could forget about the one and only Mike Funk! What a cool guy… !

The students in my workshop were pretty rowdy and knew how to have some fun. Watching the elections was making me nervous as I knew that 10 people were all qualified to be incredible state officers. In the end 5 were elected, but I know all will make an impact in the world around us. Sometimes things don’t happen as we plan, and later we realize it couldn’t have been better any other way.

I spent some time with the newly elected section presidents and the 5 majors including Caroline, Ellen, Amie, Adam, and Kiersten. Overall it was a great week! I also saw a statue of my 5th great-grandfather Pierre Menard who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. His family was from France and he was born in Canada. His great granddaughter later married a gentleman from Spain. I enjoy looking at my family tree and it was neat to be back “home” in a way so to speak. My friend Thomas Martin and I shared in some good conversation about Pierre and he told me that he has been to Pierre's old home before... How cool right?! That Thomas is a really cool guy!


Thanks for the good times Illinois FFA. Keep it real! Believe that dreams do come true…