The Future Farmers of America National Convention was held recently in Indianapolis, Ind., and Ceres was well represented by 11 members attending from Central Valley High School and one from Ceres High School.
The 95th national convention was held Oct. 26-29 at Lucas Oil Stadium. The 12 Ceres students managed to squeeze in some sightseeing at various locations for which the region is known.
The group flew into Indianapolis and then motored the two hours in rented vehicles to Louisville, Kentucky to play tourist. The first day included a morning tour of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, Ky. The group enjoyed lunch along the Ohio River at Joe’s Crab Shack and finished the day at the Louisville Slugger Bat Museum and Factory in Louisville before heading back north.
Participating students were Garret Garcia, Josh Ludwig, Amy Moreno, Savannah Haas, Nadia Ruiz, Amerie De La Torre Lliria Lira Trinidad, Melanie Guzman, Priscilla Carranza, Marianna Carranza and Sammantha Hill.
The FFA members donned their blue corduroy FFA jackets to join others from across the nation to spend all day Oct. 26 attending FFA workshops and visiting the college and career expo where they explored the many facets of the agriculture industry from more than 300 exhibitors representing agriculture, colleges, fundraising, the U.S. Armed Services and auto and truck manufacturers in the Indiana Convention Center. It was the first time the FFA convention was held in-person following the COVID pandemic shutdown.
During the opening session students were inspired by keynote speaker four-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star Tamika Catchings who challenged them to be BOLD, using the word as an acronym for:
B- Believe in your dreams
O- Open to Change
L- Love first, Lead last
D- Dare to be Remarkable
The first day of the convention ended with some shopping at the ShopFFA Mega Store for FFA merchandise.
The Ceres group fit into their last full day a visit to the famous Indy 500 race track where they posed for photos on the race track. They also visited the Indianapolis Zoo on Friday afternoon before flying home.
“We had a great time in Indy,” said Central Valley High School agriculture teacher Courtney Dayhoff. “Although it was a quick trip, I don’t think the students really grasped what the National Convention was or entails until we spent Thursday at the convention center. Our students had the opportunity to attend leadership workshops, a college and career expo and meet students from other FFA chapters all over the country. Some of these students have been to the other conferences before, but nothing compares to the National Convention & Expo.”
The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 850,000 student members as part of 8,995 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
