Schedules keep Illinois FFA officers passionately busy

Confetti, traveling and fair food, oh my. Many people joke that my teammates and I are now “owned” by Illinois FFA.

While it sometimes seems true, the sheer passion we have for our state organization brings us motivation to wake up each day and do what we love — even if that means waking up next to a goat.

From the moment we were elected in a scene thick with fog effects, lights, music and confetti over two months ago, on June 13, our schedules have been jam-packed with activities.

The 2024-2025 major state officers — President Trenton Payne, Vice President Brody Will, Reporter Sidney Stiers, Secretary Owen Torrance and Treasurer Emma Dinges — began duties the Monday following convention.

We carpooled south to Carbondale and assisted with the Illinois Association of Vocational Agriculture Teachers Conference for a week.

Part of the week following the Carbondale trip included three days of state officer training at the Illinois FFA Center in Springfield.

“Base Camp” was led by National FFA staff and included several hours of training on ethics, talents, team dynamics, levels of leadership, agriculture topics and other state officer essentials.

Our team is grateful for the role models we have interacted with and learned from, including the 2023-2024 Illinois FFA major state officers. They completed a week in Washington, D.C., and tagged along with some of the best FFA chapters in the state for the Premier Chapter trip to our nation’s capital.

Shortly after they returned, these leaders helped the fresh team of state officers “transition” into our cubicle spaces, state officer duties and altered lifestyle. We found the short three days of transition week to be useful, exciting and fun as we spent time with our role models-turned friends.

Returning to Carbondale, the majors enjoyed time with the 25 Section Presidents from across the state in a week full of training, reflections, committee meetings, an etiquette meal, long-anticipated announcements, tours of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and plenty of memories, inside jokes and laughs.

During this meeting, the majors revealed chapter visit assignments and the 2024-2025 Illinois FFA theme to the section presidents: Mission!

The next mission took place in Washington, leaving the section presidents and majors separated for a mere 36 hours from Carbondale the week prior.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association made this experience possible by sponsoring our trip and allowing us to engage in monument tours, time in government buildings, conversations with professionals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Grains Council and John Deere and, of course, attend the National Corn Growers Association’s 2024 Corn Congress.

We are fortunate to have been given the opportunity to advocate for ag policies and corn, a commodity essential to Illinois agriculture, and witness the true impressiveness of D.C.

One large plane took us all home from Washington, and a smaller plane flew the majors right back to the nation’s capital. At this point, 33% of our elected term had been spent in Washington, and this week, it was for different reasons.

The five majors endured more state officer training, this time with FFA state officers from across the country.

All of my teammates and I believe the best part of this trip was interacting with state officers from completely different backgrounds and state organizations.

I roomed with a girl from Alaska, who seemed surprised when we asked about the penguins, but told us of their family friend’s dog sled team.

I bumped into very few potato farmers from Idaho. Rather, my roommate from Maine grew both potatoes and broccoli, some of the popular crops in that region of the East Coast.

The family of a good friend from my group owns the largest chile farm in New Mexico, making their farm one of the biggest producers of chiles in the country.

Returning home, we interacted with several career and technical student organizations over the course of three days during the Illinois Coordinating Council for Career and Technical Student Organizations Conference.

State officers from Family, Career and Community Leaders of America; Business Professionals of America; Future Business Leaders of America; Professional Agricultural Student organization; HOSA — Future Health Professionals; FFA; and other groups gathered to learn about opportunities and experiences within each institution, while receiving training to help with state officer terms.

Illinois Association of Vocational Agriculture Teachers board members and section president district representatives gathered the two days following the ICCCTSO conference to meet regarding classroom instruction and FFA topics.

Training for equity, diversity and inclusion was also conducted by Corey Flournoy, former National FFA president and Illinois FFA state vice president.

In addition to meetings, these days presented those section presidents in attendance the opportunity to receive their new FFA jackets, which include their name, section president title and term year — a jacket worn by only 25 of the more than 43,000 FFA members in the state.

With much of the summer behind us, we began to tackle the major task at hand: the 2024 Illinois State Fair. In preparation, we assisted section presidents with training for animal safety and humane practices, solidified work schedules — which last 12 hours per day and require a minimum of three days of work per section president — and gathered supplies for the barnyard.

On Aug. 8, the majors and section presidents assisted in the ribbon cutting for the opening of the Illinois State Fair and the parade that traveled through the heart of the fairgrounds.

Ag Day included a breakfast on the Director’s Lawn and time spent at the Ag Tent. Free tickets from the Director of Ag allowed us to meet Keith Urban himself and receive a shout-out during his concert.

Every magical moment between was filled with people young and old learning about animal agriculture and FFA as they stepped foot into the barnyard.

While off-duty, our state team leaders enjoyed meals together sampling anything fried or on a skewer while taking in the sights and sounds of the fair.

At night, the female state leaders rested well at the FFA center on cots and in air conditioning.

The boys? They bonded with the animals while sleeping between the cattle, rabbits, hogs, sheep and goats every night, which made for some interesting stories.

The past two months have flown by, but not without purpose. The connections we have made in agriculture, with friends of the FFA and with members statewide mean so much to us.

Each day we find something new to be grateful for as we serve an organization that gives back to so many.

Our schedules keep us passionately busy, the people make our hearts full and those Illinois State Fair refillable Tiki Teas serve as first aid kits in a cup.

Sidney Stiers from the Williamsfield FFA Chapter is the 2024-2025 Illinois Association FFA state reporter.