Day at the Capitol!

As FFA members, we do a lot of really cool things. I know during this National FFA Week, there are lock-ins, swimming parties, school wide dress up days, donkey basketball, and an incredible amount of other fun activities. It's been awesome as a state officer this year to be invited to those fun activities. Let's face it, FFA rocks. But we are nothing without our agricultural education classes and our agriculture teachers. Nothing being the equivalent of non-existent. So in the midst of massive school and government budget cuts, along with mandates on our schools to add more required classes that make agricultural education much more difficult to take, the organization we all love is in trouble in many of our schools. Now I don't know about you, but I have a hard time sitting back and twittling my thumbs while all this is going on. So what to do? We Are the FFA. We know what to do.

Yesterday, FFA members from across Minnesota got the chance to spread the Blue and Gold around one of the most influential places in the state; the state capitol. The art pieces, white Georgia marble, St. Cloud granite, and gold leaf were overtaken by blue corduroy. Members met with their representatives and senators to spread the word of FFA and agricultural education, and why they are important. We shared personal stories about where we are from, why we joined FFA, and what they mean to us. I know for me, joining FFA was a life changing decision, and stories like mine were heard by the people who draft laws that affect our schools, agricultural education, and FFA. How cool, right!? High school students potentially being influential in state government decisions. We Are Minnesota FFA.

As a state officer team, we got to meet with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, Representative Rod Hamilton who is the chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Development Policy and Finance committee, Senator Doug Magnus who is the chairmen of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economies committee, and a variety of others. It was an awesome experience meeting with these individuals. But the part of the day that I enjoyed most was seeing the awesome representation of FFA members we had spreading the word. The stories and the faces make all the difference in the world to our legislators.

To all those who participated in Ag Policy Bootcamp, thank you for the leadership you provided throughout the day. The day was awesome, and in my opinion, a major success. Keep up the good work in your communities and your schools. Spread the word about why agricultural education and FFA are important. Keep our programs alive for future generations! We can do it. We Are FFA.

Stationed by the Door,
Dustin Smith

Living Life In The Moment,

Moment: [moh-muhnt] noun; an indefinitely short time or any other particular time. It's a simple word used in our everyday vocabulary. We use it in sentences and conversations but often underappreciate little moments in our lives and forget to live for the moment.

I, for one, am guilty of this. Family and friends can test to the fact that I let stress overtake me sometimes or maybe a majority of the time. I’m constantly thinking about the future, planning ahead, and anticipating things. In a sense, I forget to have fun. All throughout high school I took things very seriously and seldomly enjoyed the little moments in my life, choosing to be serious 97% of the time and choosing to be fun the other 3%. I made my life and schedule busy. I regularly anticipated and thought about the things approaching in my life that were both enjoyable and not enjoyable; college, track meets, tests, immunizations, etc. I have had some outstanding and inspiring moments already in my life, but when they were taking place I thought: “well, this moment is going to be over soon. Now what? What’s next?”

This past Saturday, madam Reporter Chelsea Vilchis and I ventured down to southwestern Minnesota to the town of Sleepy Eye for the Sleepy Eye FFA lock-in. The night included an amazing dance, volleyball, nuke ball, dodge ball, balloon popping games, socializing, and much more. It was great seeing familiar faces and meeting new people as well. As I left the lock-in I realized I had not really been thinking about anything that night. I was not worried about upcoming assignments or if my dance moves were up to par for the town of Sleepy Eye. I simply had fun! I played in an epic volleyball match where I battled Karrah, had a dance battle with Brandon, Chanda, and Chelsea to “Piano Man”, wore a hole in my jeans from doing the Watermelon Crawl, and got smoked in dodge ball by Bethany and Miranda just to name a few.

That night, I lived for the moment. The night was full of moments filled with laughter and fun thanks to the wonderful members who made the night possible. Thank you!

In life, no two moments are the same. Each one is unique and can never be recreated. I’ll never have the same experience at a Sleepy Eye FFA lock-in as the one I just had but I enjoyed it immensely and had hundreds of great moments. I lived in the moment, which I need to start doing more and worrying less. I can only ponder for so long. I will not know how hard or easy my classes are going to be next year and I will not know where I will end up landing a teaching job after college. But until then, I’ll enjoy the moments in my life leading up to those things. I will enjoy and cherish the people, places, and moments in my life.

Living life in the moment and stationed by the emblem of Washington,

Tyler Warren

Singers and Dancers and Poets...OH MY!

This past Friday, I had the outstanding opportunity to accompany Liz Rabbe and Hillary Kletscher to the Winona FFA Talent Show. I must warn you, however, that this was no ORDINARY talent show. This was a talent show founded last year by a girl that I am lucky to call my friend, Ms. Katelyn Sather, and it is put on completely by the FFA chapter. This show is open to the entire school with FFA members putting in all of the time and legwork to make this show outstanding.

When I was first asked to attend this show by Mr. Danny Young, I couldn’t have been more excited. I knew that the students at Winona were amazing and fun. This had already been established, but when I got to the talent show, I had the chance to see them in action. See them work the audience, keep things moving, and socialize with the other students from Winona. They truly AMAZED me! The work and dedication that these students put into, not only this talent show, but there entire ag program was inspiring.

Inspiration.

I find myself feeling this emotion quite a bit this year. It is students like those at Winona that
help me to get to that place. That place of inspiration where I want to go out and make things happen!

I had a good friend say to me just this past week that she is a little down in the dumps. She just doesn’t feel as though she knows where she wants to go. She wants to be inspired. She is searching so hard to find something to motivate her, and yet I am so fortunate to constantly be inspired by FFA members every single day of the year. They never cease to amaze me.

What my dear friend is forgetting, is that you need to allow yourself to be open to be inspired. You need to see the world as a different opportunity and a new adventure at every glance. You need to realize that, yes, there may be some not so great things going on in your life, but the only way that you are going to get out of it and get to something better is for YOU to make that happen.

Now, the next Winona FFA Talent Show won’t be for another year, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be inspired by something or someone else. Allow yourself to be open to inspiration from all around you. It could be a person, a place, or even a picture. Just take a look.

Be inspired.

Stationed by the Flag,

Chelsea

Appreciate

Leading the Challenge-Region V

Hillary, Tyler, and I had the outstanding opportunity to venture back to our roots to Region V’s Leading the Challenge this past weekend. The theme of the weekend? Leaders Under Construction.

I was truly blown away by the outstanding work that the Region V officer team had done! Katie, Lucas, Bekah, Allyssa, Jordann, Jon, and Kaylen were outstanding facilitators and leaders! They knew how to bring down the roof and provide and amazing experience for all of the members of Region V!

We started off the conference with some leadership workshops as well as one on swing dancing, courtesy of Mrs. Williamson! Then it was off to Powder Ridge where members had the chance to ski, snowboard, and tube their hearts out! After a minor traffic jam on the way back it was time for some supper and…of course…you can’t have a leadership conference without…the DANCE!!

There were some awesome tunes coming out of the speakers at the dance on Saturday night! Everything from “John Wall” to “Fishin’ in the Dark.” It was pretty epic!
Then we heard some reflections on the inspirational story of one boy who made a difference in his job as a bagger at a grocery store that changed the lives of others.

On to day number two, where we were dazzled once again by some amazing leadership workshops put on by the Region V officers! Then, some pictures (of course) and it was time to head home.

This was a truly outstanding weekend! We were all so fortunate to be invited. I was reminded this weekend of how nice it is to go back to our roots. Hillary, Tyler and I had the opportunity to go home and experience LTC in a different role than ever before.

It was truly humbling. I had the chance to experience how I had grown over this past year and remember where I had come from. I happen to have Futuristic in my top five strengths, so I often forget to look back. This past weekend I was better able to look back and reminisce about last year. To appreciate the experiences that I had and enjoy the company of the Region V officer team.

Don’t forget to look back. Don’t forget to appreciate where you have come from and where you have been. Those experiences made you into who you are today. Those experiences made us into who WE ARE.

Congratulations to the Region V officer team once again! You guys are truly outstanding!


Stationed by the Flag,
Chelsea

CHINA!

International Leadership Seminar for State Officers
674 pictures
64 state officers
10 days
6 plane flights
4 cities
1 unforgettable journey

While most summaries are referred to as “in a nutshell”, I would like to refer to this as “in a teacup”. The first two weeks in January took President Kletscher, Secretary McNab, and Reporter Vilchis on a whirlwind of an adventure… to CHINA!

This is China through the eyes of a small town Minnesota girl. There were a few things I thought I knew about this country and its people before I traveled; turns out some of them needed a new perspective.

I knew that a lot of our American products came from china, but what I didn’t know is that a lot of Chinese products come from America. One of the stops on our trip was a wholesale fruit market, 38 acres of fruit filled trucks. 40% of the fruit at that market was imported from America, including such brands as Washington Apples and Sunkist. Another visit was to the Bunge Soybean Processing Plant. Most of the soybeans they crush at the plant come from American farmers. Who knows, maybe the soybeans that we raise on our very own Minnesotan farms end up here.

Knowing that China is literally located completely on the other side of the planet, I figured life there must be pretty different. Well, we got to spend a morning with students at the Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University. Two other state officers and I were paired with a student named Grace who was a senior studying public utility management. Getting to know someone relatively my own age was eye opening. Though some of the things she did from day to day were a little different from life in the US, we had a lot in common. We both were interested in agriculture, both wanting to learn about each other’s lives, and both loved our families.

Going to China was an incredible experience. I learned so much, experienced another culture and a different way of life and met so many new friends. This trip strengthened my pride in being directly involved in the agriculture industry. We have a huge responsibility, feed the world. China and America are the top counties when it comes to providing for the world. We can work together and we can provide this world with the nourishment it needs through a partnership to work for the greater good.

I never imagined I would travel to China, especially before I was even two decades old. But sometimes, life happens. I’ll leave you with this: “We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to the big differences that we often don’t foresee.” –Marian Wright Edelman

Stationed by the Ear of Corn,
Katie McNab

YOU are the future

Minnesota FFA Agricultural Policy Bootcamp kicked off for the first time on Monday afternoon. Twenty-seven FFA members from seventeen chapters across the state came together to learn more about agricultural policy, our state government, and how they can be involved.

On Monday afternoon they spent time visiting with the Commissioner of Agriculture, Representative Hamilton and Senator Magnus. The FFA members and four of my teammates had the pleasure of spending time with Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton. Students commented that the governor took time to answer their questions and didn't seem in a rush to move on to the next item in his agenda.

After meeting with the governor the group headed to a hotel where we had a reception with Minnesota legislators. The reception was a great opportunity for all of us to not only talk to, but get to know our legislators and others within the state government. We all had the opportunity to ask questions according to our personal interests and gain information about our government that we truly value. I personally had the opportunity to talk to my legislator, Chris Swedzinski, about renewable energy and biofuels.

Tuesday morning we started the day strong with encouraging advice and a question and answer session with two former Minnesota legislators who work with agriculture. We headed to the State Capitol building to meet with "mentors" for the day who showed us the capitol. Many of us headed into the Minnesota House of Legislators Agriculture Committee. After observing their order of business, all FFA members present were invited to share their agriculture and FFA experiences with the committee. It was exciting for us to share how agriculture and FFA have truly impacted our lives. Those who spoke went down in the books as an official testifier.

As we finished up our bootcamp, I remembered the potential of FFA members. We had countless legislators and staff people comment on how FFA members are the hope for the future leadership in our government and communities. They commented on the experience and professionalism of FFA members. They commented on how they believe in our futures.

WE ARE the future of agriculture and our communities. WE ARE the people that can achieve our future dreams. WE ARE Minnesota FFA. And YOU are the future.

Beneath the Rising Sun,

Hillary Kletscher