While most students were at home during the long weekend for parent-teacher conferences, members of the FFA were in Indianapolis at the FFA National Convention.
“The FFA National Convention took place at the Indiana State Convention Center,” junior Madison Mertens said.
There were many different events that took place at the convention for students to watch.
“We got to go to an actual rodeo. We also watched horse racing one night,” FFA President Brady Pomplun said.
Not only were there events like the rodeo and horse races, but there were also booths where students could walk around and learn about the products that they have.
“We got to see all the different booths with different new technology. We got to take a look at a new technology tractor. There were many colleges there with booths,” Pomplun said.
The requirements in order to go to the FFA Convention were not extremely rigorous like they can be for trips in other clubs.
“The only thing we had to do was sign a school medical waiver and be a member of FFA,” Mertens said.
FFA members also toured agriculture facilities on their trip to further their knowledge of agriculture.
“At the National FFA Convention, we went on two tours. The first was a Kuhn in Brodhead, WI and the second was Fair Oaks Farms Adventure in Fair Oaks, Indiana,” FFA adviser Kim Dehn said.
FFA has hosted this convention annually in Indianapolis ever since 2006 according to their website. Before this, it was hosted in Kansas City, MO, and Louisville, KY.
“The National FFA Convention is the largest student organization gathering of any kind in the country. This year over 50,000 FFA members from all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands attended the convention,” Dehn said.