Paul's South Carolina NLCSO

South Carolina NLCSO!




South Carolina is one cool place I will tell you that much! We stayed at one of the older hotels in the south, built in 1914, that was filled with a ton of history. We enjoyed all the great things of South Carolina and learned all about the south. For the first time in my life I had shrimp and grits -- I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I think I found a new favorite food! They are delicious!

Laila and I spent a couple days setting up and getting ready state officers from Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and the host state South Carolina to arrive. The state officers all came in on Monday night and we had a wonderful dinner at Hyman’s seafood. This is a very famous restaurant in the south and tons of celebrities love it. In fact there are name plates on the tables where different famous individuals have eaten dinner at. I sat with a few girls from Georgia and one from South Carolina at a table where Jimmy Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, and Neil Armstrong had all sat. It was a pretty sweet place!

The week of the conference was amazing. I was blown away with some great conversations that I had with different officers and I couldn’t seem to get enough of our “rodeo” or the cupid shuffle dance off! We had a couple visitors from Mosaic and Monsanto- two of the NLCSO partners. Emmanuel, a state officer from South Carolina, thanked a sponsor from Mosaic and did a great job! This guy rocks and I loved our conversations throughout the week. Carrie from NC thanked our other sponsor. It’s amazing how much talent is in those rooms during the week of the conference.

The week was filled with some action packed sessions as well as a ghost tour and game of “peg.” We also broke a new record when Bo from Georgia ate 17 packets of Smarties in one of the team challenges! It was wild! The state staff were great to and only added to the excitement of the week.
It was a great week filled with memories I will never forget! Thanks to you- the SOs from the good ol’ south!

Utah NLCSO

Hello again! We have just finished up our last two NLCSO's and thought we would take some time to tell you about them.

From June 29th - July 3rd we conducted NLCSO in Bryce Canyon, Utah, with the state officers from Arizona, Utah, Colorado, California, Alaska, Nevada and New Mexico. We not only got to enjoy our beautiful surroundings in south-west Utah, but we also got the chance to spend a lot of time getting to know one another. During the week we spent time at the local rodeo rooting on our favorite riders and even got the opportunity to hike Bryce Canyon. We decided to tag along with the Cali crew on the hike and they did not disappoint; we climbed the entire canyon! Although it was a lot of hard work and sweat, the view was totally worth it!



Other highlights of the week included some amazing reflections from each state officer team, wicked swing-dancing demos and listening to Isaac (national talent from Alaska) as he sang for us. It was a big week full of lots of excitement and we look forward to seeing many of them again soon at SPC!


God Bless,

Hannah & Nessie

New York NLCSO

New York NLCSO…Game time- woo!

Camp-O was one of the neatest places I have been all year. Not to mention I got to spend time with state officers from 7 states in the Northeast and it was a great week no doubt! The students were incredibly passionate about their roles and soaked up the information so fast. These guys and girls have it going on that is for sure.

We planned workshops, grew as teammates, and enjoyed some great things around camp-o including the great race and the legendary high ropes course. I also had some amazing NY pizza and the best ice cream in NY at a place called Wishys. Ms. T and Jamie from NY took Laila and I there and later on in the week Massachusetts invited us to go again. We wrapped up one of the nights with a dance where Laila and I learned some pretty sweet line dances and taught some swing dance lessons as well.

The Sos from these state made some of the best workshops I have seen all year and just blew us away in so many ways. Not only are they smart but they can also dance as we saw in the dance off battle at the conference. Outside of the conference room the camp staff took Laila and I to some sweet waterfalls and I jumped of some big rocks into the pond. It was great fun!

What a solid week I had in NY. Some memories I will never forget. Thanks for making it so special new friends!

Wyoming NLCSO

Wyoming NLCSO rocked!

We had such a blast in Wyoming! After Laila and I driving all through the mountains of Wyoming we finally arrived at our camp and got prepped for a great week. Three states were at the National Leadership Conference for State Officers including North Dakota, Montana, and of course Wyoming. The mountains were gorgeous out there and there was even a dirt shape in the side of one of the mountains that looked like an FFA emblem. It was pretty cool for sure.

We had a reflections session out on Sunset Basin that was gorgeous and Wyoming did a really cool presentation for us. Each day the state officer team showed off their skills at KFFA news broadcasting. There were some funny moments that is for sure! We also had a mean game of hacky sack and that gave the officers another chance to show off their skills.


After the week conference was over Laila, and I along with our friend Chase went around Yellowstone National Park and checked out the place. It was incredible! I have never seen anything like it. There were buffalo everywhere and some were right in the middle of the road. We pulled up and Laila could almost touch it outside the window. This is what was real crazy… we were standing waiting for Old Faithful, and I looked over to my left and standing about 12 yards away was my aunt and cousin. It was a big coincidence, but a great one. I knew she was in Wyoming, but since I didn’t have cell service we didn’t talk. It was really nice to go to dinner with them as well as my aunt’s parents. Even though I was not at home it sure felt great to be with my family. Its little moments like that when we realize how blessed we are to have people in our lives who care about us.

Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota State officers- thanks for an experience that I will never forget!