National FFA Week

A few weeks ago, our team had the privilege of celebrating National FFA week with members from across the state and National FFA Vice President, Wyatt Dejong. We kicked off the week by letting NC State University know that that blue and gold is the only way to go. Our team and a few members of collegiate FFA at NCSU gathered in the free expression tunnel to paint one half national blue and the other half corn gold. To our surprise, it only took four gallons of paint, but a good portion of the paint was used to paint each other! Once we finished in the tunnel, Alycia and I began our next adventure.


Our next destination was Sampson County, in Alycia’s hometown. I will refrain from sharing how late we stayed up that night making preparations for the week ahead, but it was all worth it when we woke up the next morning and made our way to the first chapter visit at Hobton High School. The members had been working very hard to prepare breakfast for all of the faculty and FFA members at the school. We enjoyed our time with them before hitting the road once again and making our way to Grantham Middle School. While visiting Grantham, Alycia and I had the opportunity to conduct a chartering ceremony which made the Middle School an official chapter in North Carolina. It was very rewarding to watch all of the members come up one by one and sign the new charter. We had an awesome start to the week at the Hobton and Grantham Middle FFA chapters.


During the second half of our day, we visited Mount Olive College and Southern Wayne FFA. Mount Olive had a very impressive Agricultural Education program, and the members of collegiate FFA were kind enough to give us a tour of the campus. After eating lunch with students and professors at Mount Olive, we made our last visit of the day at Southern Wayne. Wyatt gave a keynote address to the students at Southern Wayne and we also had the opportunity to tour the Ag. Department and greenhouses. After the busy day was complete, we made our way back to Sampson County to prepare for the following day. Monday assured us that North Carolina was stoked about celebrating National FFA week!


We woke up bright and early Tuesday morning to travel to Fayetteville, where we met our teammate, Jamie. The three of us were interviewed on the radio station 95.7, so we could share with the listeners the message of FFA. The faculty members at 95.7 were extremely supportive of the organization and all of our endeavors during the week. After departing from the radio station, the three of us met the rest of the team at Lakewood High School. It was good to finally have the team reunited and even better to see more FFA members at Lakewood. We toured the Ag department and then gathered with dozens of students in the cafeteria to hear Wyatt give his presentation. The day was off to a fantastic start and the adventure did not end there!


Justin and I piled into his bright yellow truck (Tweety), so that we could visit the Bladen Agriscience Academy, St. Pauls FFA and a federation meeting at Lumberton High School. The members at the BAA provided an excellent lunch and we enjoyed our time with them. It was impressive to see the amount of growth they have achieved this year as the first home school chapter in the nation. Next, we briefly visited the St. Pauls career fair to see various booths that the students had set up and then we made our way to Lumberton High. Around five schools showed up for the federation meeting. Justin and I conducted a workshop for the students on public speaking and had a few students do extemporaneous speeches on topics ranging from how to drive a stick shift to how to dance! The students had a great time, while also learning how to effectively deliver a speech. After the federation meeting concluded, Justin and I made our way back to NC State.


Wednesday was spent going to classes, but on Thursday I ventured to the CB Aycock FFA chapter in Wayne County. The chapter officer team at CB Aycock was actually in my small group at State Leadership Conference, so the Western Sizzlers had a huge reunion! One of the highlights of this year has been developing bonds with members across the state and seeing the members from my small group reminded me how strong those bonds can be.

National FFA week come to a close on Friday after visiting the Granville Central FFA Chapter. Granville Central is actually a brand new chapter that is trying to inform the new members about all the opportunities offered. Around one hundred students filled the cafeteria and we discussed how FFA fulfills its mission by offering premier leadership, personal growth and career success.


North Carolina FFA members from the mountains to the coast celebrated FFA week by informing their communities and fellow students about the wonderful organization we all cherish. It continues to amaze me how passionate students are when presented the opportunity to advocate for the FFA. The week was a great success for the state and we are so glad the Wyatt Dejong got to spend time with us because he had a tremendous impact on everyone he met. Thank you, members, teammates and Wyatt for an awesome FFA week!

West Columbus FFA Chapter

Elizabeth and I recently visited the West Columbus FFA Chapter. We had the privilege to do presentations for three classes and had a great visit! It is always exciting to share information about FFA opportunities and have a little fun in the process. The students made a rap about FFA opportunities, presented it to the class and they had some mad skills! One in particular, was performed by Mr. Squeaky. Squeaky, is a FFA member and chapter officer that had no problem standing in front of the class and showing everyone how a pro raps. All of the students did an outstanding job and I look forward to visiting again.

After the visit, we toured the school greenhouse and ate lunch with a few of the FFA members and their adviser. They were so excited that we got to try the town’s famous chicken gizzards! I was slightly scared at first, but once I tried them I was hooked. It is always enjoyable to visit different parts of the state and spend time with individuals that are excited about what they are doing in FFA. Elizabeth and I also enjoyed going to the coastal region of NC for a day and seeing how things differ from Raleigh. If you’re wondering what we learned that day, I can tell you that West Columbus FFA rocks!

A Week of New Experiences

This week we have done everything from racing tractors through arenas to attending a wildlife dinner and having our first taste of bear meat! We began the week by attending the Ag Development Forum on the North Carolina State Fair Grounds. While there, we had conversations with Commissioner Steve Troxler and Mr. Larry Wooten, who is this president of North Carolina Farm Bureau. Commissioner Troxler gave a speech on the state of agriculture in North Carolina. He was thrilled to share with everyone that even in the poor state of the economy; agriculture continues to be the number one industry in our state. We were excited to hear from the various representatives that made an appearance at the forum. After departing from the fairgrounds, all six of us piled into Mr. Bledsoe’s truck and made our way to the Horse Complex where the Truck and Tractor Career Development Event had just ended. Mr. Davis and Mr. Bledsoe did the unthinkable……. they allowed all of us to drive one of the tractors. We were so excited to race across the arena, and thankfully, we survived to tell the story.

The next morning, I returned to the fairgrounds to attend the Commissioners breakfast. I had the opportunity to sit with a representative from Syngenta and the director of activities for the state fairgrounds. We engaged in conversations about agriculture, FFA, the fairgrounds and everything Syngenta does for agriculture. It was a great learning experience that I will never forget.

Finally, to top off the week of new experiences we took a road trip to visit the Greys Creek FFA Chapter. This happened to Jamie’s home chapter, so we were stoked about visiting one of our teammate’s schools. Jamie was anxiously waiting for Justin, Elizabeth and I to get there so we could attend the very first Greys Creek FFA Wildlife Banquet. We arrived at the Dupont facility to a feast of raccoon, bear, deer and every type of wildlife you can imagine. Justin was the bravest of our group and sampled almost everything they had to offer. I admit that I was not as adventurous as him and only tried the bear. Jamie comes from a great family oriented FFA chapter and we had a blast with the members.

Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference

Our team recently attended the annual Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The event was for young leaders in agriculture to come together and go through a series of personal development workshops and activities. My favorite experience at the conference was meeting a farmer from Hickory County that owns a dairy operation. It was apparent that he was very passionate about his operation, and I enjoyed hearing about his life as a dairy farmer.

The conference was the second event I have attended that was conducted by North Carolina Farm Bureau. Farm Bureau continues to be the voice of agriculture by advocating everyday for agricultural endeavors. It was amazing to see young leaders come together in order to improve agriculture in our state. I look forward to see what Farm Bureau has in store for the next event.

Teachers Conference

Justin and I arrived in Raleigh last Monday expecting to go to the State Presidents Conference held in Washington D.C. To our surprise the conference did not begin until the following week, so we had the privilege of going to the annual Teachers Conference in Greensboro. We arrived before most of the crowd, but it did not take long for thousands of teachers to pour into the convention center.

Throughout the week my team had the opportunity to meet representatives for CTE from all across the state. Almost three hundred Ag teachers were in attendance and the workshop presentations were very informative. My favorite experience during the week was going to a dinner at A&T State University. The Southern Guilford FFA Alumni sponsored a dinner in honor of the retired Ag teachers in our state and they did a wonderful job.

On the Road

On June 24, 2010 my dream became a reality when I was elected as the North Carolina FFA State Vice President. The 5th general session lasted a LIFETIME! All of the candidates waited to hear the committee report read by Alyson Moore. Finally, when the time came, we stood in a line and held each other. They began calling the names of the 6 state officers and cheers filled the room after the announcement of each name. When they reached my name the world changed and I embraced Caroline Yopp who I was replacing. During that moment my heart was beating out of my chest and emotions consumed me. One at a time the past state officers installed us into our positions and we were on our way to the state office after convention. I will never forget walking up the stairs in the state office and seeing our names listed on the bulletin board. The reality was still far from registering in my mind, but seeing our names together on the board was an indescribable feeling.

Soon after election we made our way to White Lake where BLAST OFF training and SLC commenced. The first two days were spent in BLAST OFF training learning how to develop our speaking skills and grow together as a team. The training was a great way to get us pumped for SLC that week! When the members began filling the camp directly after our training I was filled with excitement and could not wait to meet all the members. The week was filled with learning experiences, meeting new people, and a lot of laughter. My small group from Union Pines, or better known as the Western Sizzler’s was very enthusiastic and I enjoyed the time we had together. SLC was a great success and my team cannot wait until the second week in August!

After our first experience with members at SLC we traveled far south to Daytona Beach, FL to attend the National Leadership Conference for State Officers (NLCSO). On the way down we made a pit stop at the famous Paula Dean’s restaurant, Lady and Son’s and the food was delicious! At NLCSO we had the amazing opportunity to meet state officers from all over the southern region and two national officers. One thing I have noticed on my journey thus far is that FFA is full of fantastic people no matter where you go.