Last week, the National FFA (Future Farmers of America) held its biggest event of the year. The FFA National Convention is easily the biggest annual gathering of FFA members. According to the National FFA website, over seventy thousand FFA members from across the country came to Indianapolis to celebrate the convention. For three days every year, Indianapolis is packed with enough FFA members to fill every seat inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. With the convention being so big, the National FFA Officers work extremely diligently throughout the entire year in order to prepare for this massive event.
Since 2016, the convention has been held in Indianapolis. Before being moved to Indianapolis, it was held in Kansas City, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky. The convention will remain in Indianapolis until at least the year 2031. Starting this year on Wednesday, November 1, and going until Friday, November 3, Indianapolis is popping with thousands of blue corduroy jackets. While in Indianapolis, the members have the opportunity to see all the city has to offer. A couple of the common sightseeing opportunities are going to the Indianapolis 500 Racetrack and Monument Circle.
The convention is a great learning experience for FFA members with two hundred eighty-seven exhibitor booths attending this year. Members are able to talk with representatives from many different agriculture schools, companies, and associations. Some of the booths have interactive activities for the members to participate in. Some of these activities include trivia, virtual reality simulators, and other competitions. Members who interact with the different booths may find a career or college opportunity they want to pursue.
Another part of the convention is the FFA shopping mall. The shopping mall is set up inside the Indianapolis Convention Center with multiple different stores. The FFA members are able to purchase official FFA gear as well as clothing and products from other companies. Popular brands and stores like Ariat, Cinch, and Cowpokes were some of the stores in attendance. Many of the companies are very generous in the fact they put sales on most of their products. They are very happy to be able to sell their products to FFA members.
The Lewis Cass FFA Chapter was in attendance at the convention from Wednesday to Friday. A minibus carrying five members made its way down to Indianapolis on Wednesday morning. The members who went on Wednesday included: Maggie Taylor, Kyle Henry, McCoy Taylor, Drew Sailors, and Alissa O’Neill, who arrived at the convention hall around ten o’clock. With the exhibitor booths not opening until noon, the students explored all the FFA shopping mall had to offer. Once the exhibitor booths opened, the five members split into two groups to explore all the different booths. After taking in some of the booths, the groups got back together to get lunch before making a stop at Cabela’s. After looking around inside a few stores for a while, they made their way to Topgolf to relax for the evening. After Topgolf, the members made their way to the VRBO house where they would be staying for the two nights.
On Thursday, another Lewis Cass FFA minibus made its way down to meet up with the first group. The two groups met up in order to attend one of the National FFA sessions inside of Lucas Oil Stadium. The keynote speaker of the session was a motivational speaker named Juan Bendana. Lewis Cass FFA President Maggie Taylor said her favorite part of the session was listening to all of the members say the FFA pledge in unison. Once the session was over, The groups went back to The Convention Center where they were able to explore the shopping mall and exhibitor booths. The group of people from the second minibus had to go back to school after lunch. The first group went back to Lucas Oil Stadium in order to receive the chapters’ National Two-Star ranking. Alissa and Drew were able to walk across the stage in front of thousands of viewers in order to receive the award. FFA advisor Mr. Appleton said he is pleased we got a Two-Star award, but he would prefer we got the Three-Star award which is what we previously achieved. Once the award session was over, the group went back to the house to relax. Friday morning they spent a couple of hours finishing up their shopping and looking at the exhibitors before heading home.
Attending the National Convention is truly an amazing event to be a part of. Being able to meet and make friends with members from across the nation is a very unique experience. Talking with exhibitor booths and watching the sessions can really impact your future decisions. You might be able to find a school you have never heard of or make friends with someone who lives on the other side of the country. Either way, attending the FFA National Convention is something you should really take advantage of if you are given the opportunity.
