The Hall of States has provided 95th National FFA Convention and Expo attendees the opportunity to learn more about agriculture in individual states for many years. This year, the Hall of States will be retired as the Lumberton FFA Chapter of Lumberton, N.C., takes the first-place banner back home.
“We were picked by the state to do this, and then we had to load up all this stuff on the bus and drive on the bus for a long time,” member Kamryn McInnis said.
Members Kamryn McInnis, Ivey Nolley Micah Locklear, Emily Hall, Emily McDaniel and Gavin Merlo brought their display 683.8 miles to inform convention attendees about sweet potatoes.
“[Sweet potatoes] are one of our top commodities in North Carolina,” Nolley said. “We really just wanted to highlight all the hard work that our state puts into sweet potatoes.”
Whether using sweet potatoes in a Thanksgiving dinner dish or baking the Lumberton FFA members’ favorite, sweet potato bread, it’s likely that you use sweet potatoes from North Carolina.
“North Carolina is the No.1 producer (of sweet potatoes) throughout the entire United States,” Merlo said. Although hogs and poultry are the top commodities in North Carolina, sweet potatoes still provide a large economic boost at number three. “It brings [thousands of] jobs and $391.9 million back to our community,” she continued.
While putting their project together, Merlo learned a lot about what sweet potatoes can be used for. “I had no idea there were beef and sweet potato recipes for dog treats,” he said. “You can also make sweet potato pecan pie or cornbread.”
Of the more than 850,000 FFA members across the United States, very few will ever get to say they competed at national convention, and even fewer have been a part of the Hall of States. As the event comes to an end this year, members of the Lumberton FFA Chapter are proud to say they won the contest.
“It feels really good to say, ‘we were the last ones to ever do it,’” Micah Locklear said. “We didn’t think we would ever get this far. It took a lot of hard work and effort to get here, a lot of time after school. To see that all the hard work paid off is really exhilarating.”
James Taurman-Aldrich is a second-year student studying agricultural science, communications and leadership at the University of Idaho. He can be reached on Twitter @jamesaldrich25.
