Oh what a Friday!

Friday started out bright and early (or early for a college a student, that is) with a trip to Northrop Auditorium for convention walk through. As we laid out our stage plans, it's hard to believe that it was already eleven months ago that we ran up that ramp onto the stage. From there we headed to a convention advisory board meeting, and then on to CHS for a two hour class in giving effective feedback. Then I headed west on I-94 all the way to Alexandria for the rescheduled Region III banquet. The officer team did an excellent job planning the night and I loved Shari Yurczyk's retiring address based on the incredibly awesome movie Finding Nemo.

AMPI Annual Meeting

American Pride was the theme for Thursday huge dairy get-together. Sheryl Meshke and crew put together a great opening session for these proud dairy producers. The hospitality room full of cheese, milk, and yogurt made for a tasty break. I'm still learning a lot about the dairy industry but couldn't help but be impressed by the pride and passion of every producer we met. I never felt more proud to be a part of agriculture or a citizen of this country as Derek and I presented the American flag in front of the group of veterans. American Pride was definitely a very fitting theme indeed!

FILL Conference

This weekend, I was in Annandale for the FILL Conference. This was only the second year of this conference's existence and is focused at chapter members who have already been to a leadership conference. Over ninety attendees made the weekend a huge success. Derek and Caitlin spent Friday night at Camp Friendship while Pete, Sydney, and I camped out for night two on Saturday. The conference was presented by Mark Jewell and Angela Fredericks but we, unfortunately, didn't get to see much of them. As they led the participants through exciting challenges like creating their own communities, we worked on different pieces of convention like our RA's with Ms. Lavyne Rada, the Hutchinson FFA advisor. On Saturday night, we kicked it up with a dance, open gym, ping pong, and even Twilight. Even though it was probably my last time doing the FFA dance as a state officer, it was sure a good time teaching it to a whole new group of people. After a short reflections program, we delivered cookies to the cabins and even had the pleasure of watching Austin Sheehan proudly represent the Marshall chapter by eating a dead box elder bug for $5. After a short night sleep in some really interesting beds, we had breakfast where I was serenaded by the lovely ladies of region 8 to commemorate my nineteenth birthday and headed back to the U.

Redwood Valley FFA Banquet

Over the last week, I went from a fiftieth anniversary to a groundbreaking very first banquet! Redwood Valley certainly put a lot of effort into their inaugural program. I loved their skit about the history of agricultural education and their corn and candle center pieces set the right atmosphere. Even the piano music during supper was first rate. The script was full of clever puns and they had some real claims to fame with a stack of accomplishments and even a national AgDay essay winner. The very strong Alumni chapter served root beer floats after the awards as a great way to wrap up the night. Everyone involved should be very proud of this fifty-five member strong chapter that will surely only continue to grow!

AgriBank

AgriBank may be one of the friendliest organizations we've had the opportunity of working with this year. They believe so much in the mission of FFA and welcome any chance to help out our organization. Caitlin, Justin, Cindy Young, and I spent a few hours with them today to share some of our experiences from China since AgriBank helped sponsor part of our trip. We had a great time discussing different parts of our journey and answering their interesting questions. I only wish we could have stayed a little longer!

Parkers Prairie 50th Anniversary

On Friday night, Derek, Caitlin, and I had an interesting time at the MPLS-STP Airport looking for one National Eastern Regional Vice President. When we did find Ms. Hannah Crossen, she couldn't find her luggage! Luckily it arrived shortly at her hotel shortly after we had supper.

Saturday afternoon, Hannah, Caitlin, and I loaded into a Department of Education van with Mr. Larsen and made the trek two and half hours northwest to Parkers Prairie to join in the celebration of their chapter's fiftieth anniversary. Over 230 people were in attendance and that's saying something since the town's population is only 991! Some special guests of honor included the very first chapter president, state degree recipient, American degree recipient, female member, a three generation family of members, and a whole bunch of alumni. The current members did a great job putting the program together and gave some of the best introductions I have ever heard at a chapter banquet. We had the privilege of listening to Hannah deliver the keynote address as well as an inspiring tale from a the state vice president from forty years ago! After the program, they took some very cool pictures of each decade of members who attended. A dance followed the banquet but we headed back to the cities since it was already a late night. Thanks for letting us share in your celebration and great job!

Roland Peterson Science Fair

On Wednesday, Derek and I helped Jackie Koch and Dr. Roland Peterson set up rooms for the science fair. On Thursday, Caitlin and I, along with other U of M students, rejoined Doc Pete to help out with the 70 participant strong contest. It was great to see the amount of junior high representation as well as how excited the purple ribbon winners were. I never knew about this event when I was in high school but it sure is a great way to highlight agriscience!