82nd National FFA Convention - Saturday

Unlike Friday where we got to sleep in, Saturday we were up bright and early to get to the start of the American Degree Session at Lucas Oil Stadium by 7:30am. We got to see Drake Babcock, Shane Bahler, Josh Bruce, Leslie Byers, Kelly Clark, Jim Bob Miller, and Marcus Schwab walk across stage to recieve their American Degrees. Brandon Kurtz also recieved his American Degree, but was unable to make it because of his service in the Navy. The American Degree is the highest degree a FFA member can recieve from the organization. We were very proud of each of them as they went across stage.

After the session and taking a bunch of pictures, we all headed to Weber Grill to celebrate with the American Degree recipients and their parents and family. The food was delicious and the company was even better!

After lunch, most of us headed to the last session. We got to see Andrew McCrea give his keynote speech and Paul Moya, National FFA President, give his retiring address. Then we saw the election of the new officers. To top it off we got to see Naysa perform for the last time at this Convention with the National FFA Band. It was a great end to a great Convention!

We hope that you have enjoyed reading about the adventures of the Tri-County FFA Chapter at the 82nd National FFA Convention and make sure you check back frequently to see what's going on in the chapter!

Student Perspective - Sarah Bruce

Coming to National Convention has been a new experience for me, and a fun one too!

We arrived in Indianapolis on Wednesday to nice weather. That day was a busy one and the first session was held. It was amazing! Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs spoke one of the most inspirational speeches I have heard. It truly was awe-inspiring. Then to top it all off we got great seats at the Toby Keith concert! It was a great day overall to kick off convention. :)

Thursday we had another session that was also inspirational. In the evening we went to Beef and Boards with dinner and a show. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was the show, and it was great.

Today I got to lend a helping hand with Habitat for Humanity, which was a first time experience. It feels so good to help others. Putting up siding, painting, and just helping out with even the smallest of things can impact a person's life.

I suggest coming to convention next year. There are so many things to do and learn here. FFA is a great organization! I've had a blast! I'm sure tomorrow will be great too.

82nd National FFA Convention - Friday

Today we got to sleep in a little bit before many of us went to the National FFA Days of Service. Eight of us went to help build three Habitat for Humanity houses for needy families in the Indianapolis area. We got to put up siding on the house and also paint the houses. It was really fun to get to do some work and also help others in need at the same time. But, because of the rain, we got a little muddy too!!

While those guys were off building houses, Rick, Pat, Robin, and Heather went with Mr. Scherer and Mr. Martin to the Agriscience Fair Awards Luncheon. We are proud to say that both teams finished with a silver rating in National Competition. They did a great job and a Robin and Heather are already making plans for next year's Agriscience Fair!

We also got our last chance to go to the Career Show today before it closed. Mr. Martin and Mr. Scherer have stocked up on a lot of cool door prizes (free stuff) for the monthly FFA meetings!!

After the Day of Service participants returned to Victory Field, we all headed back to the hotel and changed so that we can go to Laser Flash in Carmel to eat pizza and play laser tag!! The Columbus FFA Chapter played with us, making the number of laser taggers 29! That made for much more fun!! Tonight was a first for many of the members and everybody had a blast!! Colby, Kyle and Sarah Bruce especially liked to hunt down Mr. Martin and Mr. Scherer once they got the hang of it for their first time! We also learned a new fun game from the Columbus FFA members called Ninja Tag!! We'll have to bring it back to the chapter so everyone can play! Thanks to the Columbus FFA chapter for making it a really fun evening!!!!

Tomorrow we will congratulate the American Degree recipients, eat at Weber Grill, and attend the closing session before heading back up North to Remington and Wolcott. Convention was so great, it's hard to believe it's almost over!! Stay tuned for the last day of the Tri-County FFA National FFA Convention Adventure!

Student Perspective - Heather Lehe

So far National Convention has been a blast! As this is my first year to go to Nationals and it has opened my eye to a lot of new places and opportunities. We've gone to the Career Show both days and with a room bigger than any at our school full with free "stuff" advertising for agricultural related subjects. Our shoes are getting shorter each day, wearing off as we walk between our activities! The escalators have been a big help (and entertainment) for all of us. Robin and I were judged this morning at 10 and my nerves didn't hit until Mr. Martin told me that we would probably be the next called. We finally got to laugh and we were ready! It's nerve-racking to wait for a day to find out how we did! Our evening fun has been so much fun. Toby last night was a once in a life-time opportunity here at Nationals, and tonight at Beef and Boards the musical was also a once in a life-time opportunity. A good play with good actors, and with Robin next to me, a very fun time. I can't wait to complete this week and hopefully continue to come back for years to come!

82nd National FFA Convention - Thursday

Today We got up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel and left for downtown by 8:30! Most of us went to the career show to get more FREE STUFF! Woo! Rick and Patrick and Robin and Heather headed to Lucas Oil Stadium to present their Agriscience Fair Projects to the judges. Both teams thought the did a pretty good job. We will find out tomorrow how they did at the luncheon. The boys also got a chance to show off their press conference skills in the lobby like the Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy! (Well, almost!)

Also today, 15 other Tri-County FFA members came down and got the chance to go through the Career Show. The week trippers met up with them at noon and we had lunch and got a picture before they headed home. We were excited to have almost 30 Tri-County FFA members experience convention!

The rest of us then headed to Conseco to watch Todd and Jenny walk across stage for recieve our award for being named a 3-star National FFA chapter!! We also got to hear Nessie Early give her retiring address and watched Clinton Central win the Chapter division of the Models of Innovation! Way to go Clinton Central!!

After the session we headed back to the hotel and changed to go to Beef n' Boards to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It was AWESOME!!! Robin especially enjoyed the show and Rick even said that is was 'interesting!' (In a good way, I think!!) We gave it two thumbs up!! You should all go see it!!

We are pumped to head to the Habitat for Humanity house tomorrow for our 'Day of Service' experience! Check back tomorrow for more National FFA Convention adventures with the Tri-County FFA Chapter!!

82nd National FFA Convention - Wednesday

Well we arrived at the school bright and early to head down to Indianapolis to start this year's National FFA Convention experience. There are 16 of us including Mr. Scherer and Mr. Martin and we were all excited to be able to see all of the blue and gold jackets in downtown Indy. Mr. Scherer had an interesting experience with Pat and Rick on the way down in his truck to deliver the luggage to the hotel! They had fun sitting on the interstate for an hour! Rick made sure there was never a dull moment!!

Mr. Martin drove the shortbus with the rest of us and we headed first to Lucas Oil Stadium to help get the Agriscience Fair participants get their displays set up. Afterwords we all met up and got to see Naysa perform with the National FFA Band before the opening of the Career Show! They sound great!

Then we headed to Buca de Beppo's for a new experience for some of us. It was the first time a few of the kids had ever been to an Italian resturant! It was a fun experience seeing all of the interesting pictures on the wall and eating some great food. We all got to test our dining etiquette too! I think the boys started to think the girls were heading to the restroom more than usual because they had to stand up an awful lot when they left and returned to the table.

After Buca's, we all got to go to the career show! We got A LOT of cool free stuff and saw some pretty interesting things! I can't wait for tomorrow when we get to head back! After the career show we headed to Conseco Field house for the Opening Session of Convention. The lazer light show was pretty awesome and the keynote speaker was really cool too! The speaker was Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. He did a great job and really related to the FFA members in the audience!

After dinner and a quick trip to the hotel to change, we finished up the night at Lucas Oil Stadium at the Toby Keith concert! It was awesome because not only did he sing, but there were also a lot of fireworks and pyrotechnics!! We were in the 8th row too!! Some of us got up so close we could almost touch him. It was really fun dancing and singing along to all of our favorite Toby Keith songs!

Tomorrow the Agriscience fair participants will be presenting to the judges early in the morning and Todd and Jenny will walk across stage to recieve our 3 star chapter rating. We will also get to see the other FFA members from Tri-County who are coming down for the day to see the Career Show! We will also be going to Beef and Boards tomorrow evening.

Stay tuned for more updates of convention!

September Fun!!

September has been filled with many exciting things for the Tri-County FFA. To start the month off, the Middle School FFA helped clean up a part of U.S. 24 with the Adopt-A-Highway project. Over 15 members participated and enjoyed a delicious pizza party afterwards!

Then, our very own Katie Demerly participated in PLT (Premier Leadership Training) as a member of the District 1 FFA Officer team. Then she, along with her fellow district officers, hosted the District 1 Kick-off at Twin Lakes high school. The Tri-County FFA had 17 members attend and we all had a lot of fun learning about leadership skills and many of the opportunities in the FFA from the State Officers!!

The Tri-County FFA also sold Truck Stampede tickets at the home football games. We will be selling them again this Friday night at Senior night. If you haven't gotten your ticket yet, make sure you come to the game and get one and support the Tri-County and Indiana FFA! You could win a brand new 2009 Chevy Silverado 4x4 pick-up truck!!! For just a $5 donation to the FFA, you could be entered in to win! all of the proceeds go to support the FFA activities at the local and state levels.

In October, the FFA has many things planned including attending SOAR (Seeking Opportunities and Achieving Results), Hosting all of our parents and recognizing our degree recipients at the Degree Banquet, Attending National FFA Convention, attending the Area and hopefully State Soils Evaluation CDE, Attending Middle School FFA Day at the FFA Leadership Center in Trafalgar, hosting an agriculture department bonfire at Mr. Martin's house, and getting out and selling some fruit. Stay tuned as we continue to update the blog with all of the activities of the Tri-County FFA!!!

If you would like to buy fruit to support the Tri-County FFA, you can email Mr. Martin at martinj@trico.k12.in.us, and he can get you more information about ordering.