FFA Members Receive American Degrees at National Convention
by Mr. Eisenhauer
October 26, 2009
Alicia Dather along with her instructors Amber Endres and Richard Eisenhauer after receiving her national finalist award in the Food Science Proficiency Area
This past week, 22 FFA members attended the 82nd National Convention at Indianapolis Indiana. The convention began with them attending the opening ceremonies featuring Mike Rowe (from Dirty Jobs) as the main speaker. Mr. Rowe’s message was that all jobs are important and that people can be happy doing them, as well as, we need to respect them for providing those services. He also shared that instead of focusing on the “green” revolution, it should be called the “brown” revolution because saving the Earth will rely on agriculture and all agriculture starts with soil.
During their first full day at convention several students toured Blue Springs Caverns, witnessing the beauty and wonders of nature. The cave is unique in that the major part of the tour is by boat due to the stream running through the cave. The other students learned the art of “glass blowing” at the Art Center, where each student had the opportunity to make their own personalized paperweight. That evening all students attended the 3rd session. Hugh Grant, Chief CEO of Monsanto, shared Monsanto’s vision of the future. We will need to produce more food in the next 40 years than has been produced since the beginning of time if we are to feed the world. To accomplish this, we will need to increase our yields significantly because large amounts of land are taken out of production due to development each year. Not only are they striving to increase production, but accomplish this with less water and lower input costs per bushel produced.
Also, on Thursday our National Proficiency finalist Alicia Dather, interviewed to be chosen as the national winner in the Food Science and Technology proficiency area. This past summer she was selected as one of four finalists throughout the U.S. in that area. The top four candidates were interviewed and selected on Thursday and the winner was announced live on RFDTV on Friday during the afternoon session. Although she was not named the winner, she is still a winner in our hearts. She received a $500 scholarship and a plaque sponsored by the Kraft food group. The effort she has put into being named a national finalist and representing our chapter so well is a great accomplishment. Congratulations and thank you Alicia!
Between educational tours and FFA sessions, students visited a large career fair where they were able to investigate a wide variety of career fields available in agriculture. There was also a science fair, workshops and CDE/LSE competitions going on that they could observe.
The conventions grand finale was Saturday morning, when the National Stars were announced and over 3000 students received their American Degree honors. Less than one half of one percent of the nations FFA membership attain this degree. The Bloomfield chapter is proud to announce that Ashley Laible and Nick Eckmann were among this year’s recipients. Congratulations Ashley and Nick.
The FFA chapter would like to thank everyone who made this trip possible. The majority of the cost of the trip is paid for through the funds generated by the spring labor auction. Also thank you to the Bloomfield Board of Education for their continued financial support.
