Winter Board Meeting/Region II Service Day

The Sauk Center FFA members and Ms. Thompson once again showed wonderful hospitality as I traveled there for the second time in the last month. The full minutes of the winter board meeting are available on the state website but there are a few key important issues to note:



1. The nominating committee process for state convention has changed. Any current member (any age) may submit an application to serve on state nom com. Applications are available from your chapter and region advisors or off the state webpage. They are due very soon!!



2. We need your ideas for delegate issues for state convention. These can be things that either affect our organization on the state or national level. These will be due January 15 so please think about what you would like to see changed!



Following the board meeting, most of kept traveling north to Staples and Motley for the Region II service day. We made ornaments and bird feeders at two assisted living homes with members from Region II and the regional officers did a great job planning the day!

University of Minnesota December Invitational

Last Thursday was the U of M invitational event which included all the leadership and speaking contests as well as small animals. I was assigned to the prepared public speaking room where I sure a lot about some very diverse things. From dairy products to agricultural education, it was definitely interesting. Watching each participant give his/her speech was also just plain awesome because the amount of work that went into each speech was obvious. Way to go everyone!

Chapter Visits - Holdingford and Sauk Rapids/Rice

Time for another round of chapter visits!. Derek and I had a different type of chapter visit at Sauk Rapids/Rice with Mr. Nelson and senior officers Sarah and Samantha. We really enjoyed getting to know the girls and Mr. Nelson and discussing what was going on in this building and growing chapter. They have an awesome PAL program in place and are working on some really cool things for the upcoming year!

At Holdingford, we were welcomed by a friendly face in Region III President and Holdingford senior Shari Yurczyk. Soon we had met the rest of the chapter officer team and they certainly know how to make our day by giving us cookies and juice! After a tour of the school, we met with the freshmen agriculture class and discussed what might be coming up in FFA this year. I must say Holdingford had one of the most unique ag rooms I've seen all year since they have an aquaculture tank and not one but TWO taxidermied conjoined twin calf pairs.

CHS New Leaders' Institute

CHS invited us to help out with their New Leaders' Institute at the beginning of December. This conference is to develop leadership in young cooperative members. The attendees were from all over the country and no one was older than mid-thirties. Derek and I helped on the first full day of the conference by running errands and helping to pass the mike. In the mean time, we overheard some amazing speakers like Mark Mayfield, a past national FFA president.

Chapter Visits - Sauk Center, Fergus Falls, and Battle Lake

Justin and I hit off our first few chapter visits with stops in Sauk Center, Fergus Falls, and Battle Lake.

At Sauk Center, home of the gold placing national dairy evaluation team, we met up with Ms. Thompson and the introductory agriculture leadership class. The entire class's excitement was infectious. All of the students had great questions and even introduced themselves and shook hands with us.

From there we headed to a vocational careers class for freshmen at Fergus Falls were we had a lot of fun with a whole class who had hardly heard of FFA. They were just starting the class so we got to spend some time with the basics of FFA.

We ended our day at the Battle Lake chapter meeting. Before any business was discussed, we played wiffle ball in the gym (I'm pretty sure the team I was on won)! Then we stayed to listen to the meeting and talked a little about communication through making some blindfolded peanut butter sandwiches and Mr. Larson even got a few pictures of the process. Justin and I took off from Battle Lake for some extra long drives home but it certainly was a worthwhile day!

Minnesota Farm Bureau Annual Meeting

Back in mid-November, I had the chance to visit a little of MN Farm Bureau's Annual Meeting. Pete and I were time keepers for the Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet. The meet is run very similarly to both the collegiate and FFA discussion meets. The contestants have a list of topics before the contest and then have some preparation time at the event to respond to a particular situation. The round I helped with included infrastructure and transportation debates. The whole event is supposed to be an exercise in problem solving and certainly gave rise to a lot of very interesting ideas. Winners of the FFA discussion meet at convention receive a scholarship to Washington Leadership Conference courtesy of Farm Bureau. Think about participating!