Members of the Marion-Florence FFA chapter traveled to Indianapolis to attend the 89th National FFA Convention, Oct. 21-23. More than 65,000 students, parents, and advisers attended the gathering.
The theme for this year’s convention was “Transform.” Convention sessions included award presentations to national winners, retiring addresses from the national FFA officers, and addresses from Jason Brown and Colin Ryan.
Members also were able to view exhibits and visit with potential employers and colleges at the FFA Exposition, which featured more than 300 exhibitors.
Elizabeth Meyer competed in the Extemporaneous Public Speaking Career Development Event. She had qualified for the national competition by winning the state contest in May. Meyer also represented the Kansas FFA Association as an official delegate for committee and general sessions.
Aidan Cairns performed with the national FFA Band. He had traveled to Indianapolis earlier to rehearse and practice. This was the second year she has participated in the FFA Band.
Raleigh Kroupa from Marion received the American FFA degree. This degree is the highest degree FFA members can earn and less than one-half of 1 percent of FFA members receive it.
Requirements for the honor include earning the state FFA degree, earning and productively investing $10,000 from their supervised agriculture experience program as well as completing 50 hours of community service.
Members from the Marion-Florence chapter toured the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the National FFA Center while in Indianapolis.
They also toured the Monsanto research center in St. Louis. This facility does extensive research in crop genetics. Members learned about the research being done using traditional plant breeding methods and non-destructive seed analysis.
MHS students attending were Kroupa, Cade Allevan, Devin Soyez, Shelby Cairns and Cassie Meyer. Mark Meyer and Salem Cairns served as sponsors for the trip.
