FFA Corner: State officers hold conferences, make chapter visits

The month of November is a very diverse one for Illinois FFA’s major state officers. The month started with the National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis. Illinois FFA was represented very well with 21 national finalists.

These finalists came in the areas of National Chapter Awards, National FFA Agriscience Fair, American Star Awards and Agricultural Proficiency Awards.

In various Career and Leadership Development Events, we had eight Top 10 teams and eight Top 10 individuals.

After a great national convention, the Illinois state officers headed back feeling very proud of the state they represent. The following week kept the officers busy with industry visits in Bloomington, as well as the first two middle school conferences of the year.

In Bloomington, officers had the chance to meet with employees of Farm Bureau, IAA Credit Union, GROWMARK and COUNTRY Financial. It was a great opportunity for the officers to meet with some of their biggest sponsors and to thank them in person for all they do.

Later in the week, the middle school conferences were hosted by Illinois Central College and Southeastern Illinois College.

The intent of the middle school conferences is to get Illinois FFA’s youngest members to have a positive first impression of the organization while learning about many opportunities the organization has to offer. Students learn leadership skills that will serve as the foundation to build a strong FFA career on.

After concluding the middle school conferences, the state officers then had their fifth week of chapter visits. The visits up to this point have taken the officers — and their lockbox activity — to 21 out of Illinois’ 25 sections.

Week five had officers visiting all areas of the state with Sections 6, 8, 12 and 17 getting an officer for the week. After the fifth week of chapter visits, two of the state officers attended the Illinois Association of School Boards conference to witness the election process and help promote agriculture education.

The month was rounded out by Illinois FFA’s BUILD Conference and training for the state officers. This conference brings together juniors and seniors from around the state and trains them in various leadership skills while connecting them with Illinois colleges and agriculture industry representatives. Students learn how to apply these skills both in FFA and beyond.

There are multiple sessions over the course of the two-day conference that teach members how to better serve their FFA chapter and home community. After a fulfilling conference experience, officers then returned to Springfield to receive their last bit of training from National FFA.

This final piece is called “Checkpoint Three” and got the officers feeling fully prepared and ready to continue into the second half of their year.

Cooper Nelson from the Canton FFA Chapter is the 2023-2024 Illinois Association FFA state reporter.