Six Abby students travel to Indy for national convention
This year, six Abbotsford FFA members attended the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis, Ind. at the end of October.
On the first day of the convention, they started their adventure in the school vehicle and stopped at Albanese Candy Factory in Merrillville, Ind. Once they arrived at the Indianapolis convention center they registered for the conference and settled in at their housing for the week. That night they attended and enjoyed the National FFA concert starring Nate Smith and Megan Moroney.
On the second day, they started the day with the opening session that kicks off the expo. They heard the National FFA advisor speech by Travis Park, mayor of Indianapolis welcoming speech by Joseph Hogsett, National FFA band and choir introduction, video message from the USDA, and finally the keynote speaker of the day, Kevin Wanzer, who talked about “engaging” through Laughter, Empathy, and “choose to ACT” (ask, care, tell) since we are all “more alike than different.”
After the opening session, the members had some time at the expo convention hall where students networked with hundreds of industry professionals, colleges and attended workshops. Finally, the day rounded off with dinner and officer team bonding at Top Golf.
With over 70,000 attendees and guests this year, National FFA Convention and Expo was absolutely amazing. The third day with the fourth general session of convention at Lucas Oil Stadium. At the session it was announced that FFA officially hit one million student members in this year. Later in the session, students got to hear the awards of the winners of the National Agricultural Proficiency Awards (SAE Project Awards), National Agriscience Fair Competition (Experiment SAE Awards), Honorary American FFA Degrees and more.
The retiring address from Carter Howell, the 2023-2024 National FFA vice president, was then given, with a theme of “Inside Out.” Lastly, the day’s keynote speaker, Temple Granden, gave an address. Granden is most famous for completely reinventing the animal welfare industry and for her advocacy for autism awareness. She spoke of different types of “thinkers” and the careers that are best for each. After the session, the students had some more time at the expo for anything they missed yesterday. They then drove to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center for a tour of how they care for their animals. That night was the traditional “chapter dinner” and a celebration of Kara Larson’s birthday.
On the trip back, the group stopped at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Ill., where they got to partake in an educational tour of the world's sea creatures including two “animal spotlight” educational shows that focused on sustainability of natural habitats.
ALL SMILES - The Abbotsford FFA members stopped for a picture while at Lucas Oil Stadium for the National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis. The convention took place over October 22-26.
