FFA Day at the State Fair and National Convention

This year has been a year of many firsts for the North Carolina State FFA Association! One of our most exciting events was FFA Day at the North Carolina State Fair, where nearly 300 FFA members attended to visit with people from Mr. Joshua Bledsoe to our Ag. Commissioner Mr. Steve Troxler! For eight individuals, this was incredibly exciting, because they were serving as the 2010 North Carolina State FFA Delegates along with Justin, Daniel, Alycia, Elizabeth, Cory, and myself...shortly after the state fair concluded, we all headed to the Raleigh Durham Airport to take a flight to Indianapolis, Indiana, where we geared up for making decisions for our National FFA Organization at the 83rd National FFA Convention. For half of the delegates, this trip was a first, as they had either never been on a plane, or been to National Convention, and for others, it was a first for both a plane ride as well as Convention!

The first two days of Convention were packed with training sessions and group events meant to push the delegates to step outside their comfort zones to get involved with individuals from around our nation. Every year, the annual Welcome to Indy luncheon is held for both delegates and sponosors. I had the opportunity to work with some Land 'O' Lake representatives during this luncheon. One of the highlights of serving as a delegate is the Wrangler dinner, where we hear from some of the sponsors of the Delegate Process as well as an opportunity to dress in Wrangler attire and to show support to Breast Cancer through purchasing "Tough Enough To Wear Pink" bracelets. After the Wrangler Dinner, we were whisked away to an Enrichment fun session, where we put on our hard hats to come up with crazy, wild, abstract ideas to solving the worlds problems such as water conservation!

After the Delegates gathered in their discussion rooms, final presentations were made on the delegate issues which were later presented to the delegate body, which was then sent to the National FFA Board of Directors. To all of the Delegates: Job well done, the decisions you made will be impacting FFA members for years to come!

As Advisors, members and guests began packing into the convention center, Indy was turning more lively, with the streets packed at every corner with the ever famous national blue and students bustled to Steak 'n' Shake to get the first milkshake of the week! This year North Carolina Delegates had the opportunity to sit front and center at the general sessions! As the week progressed, the National Officers presented their retiring addresses, FFA members lined up back stage waiting to recieve their proficency awards and to find out who recieved first, second, and third place for CDE's! Josh Shipp wowed the crowed at the first general session with his goofy humor and down-to-earth-lets-get-real words..."and a goat...". Later in the week we had special guest and speaker Judson Laipply, creator of "The Evolution of Dance". Needless to say, everyone loved his words of wisdom, jokes, and crazy dance moves! :) Overall, convention was a blast and I look forward to seeing more students, more blue jackets, and more thrilling special guest!