This content series shines a light on some of the FFA members and alumni who propel national convention forward, and offers an inside look at their responsibilities during the week.
Members in blue jackets are not the only ones having the time of their lives at the National FFA Convention and Expo this week. Thousands of former FFA members return each year to contribute to the experience. FFA alumni and past state officers Hope Showalter of Virgina and Colton Conley of Louisiana have returned to facilitate student workshops. Why serve as a national convention workshop facilitator? The desire is clear: to make a positive impact on FFA members.
“When I attended a state convention for the first time,” Conley explains, “there was a national officer from our state, Layni Leblanc. She gave a workshop on goal setting. It literally changed my perspective on my life. Ever since then, I have wanted to jump on the opportunities to change other people’s lives. What better place to do that than a workshop setting where my own views were changed?”
Showalter came across the opportunity through the National FFA SpeakAg Ambassadors Program while serving as a state FFA officer. Since then, her facilitation career has flourished. As third year convention facilitator, Showalter has been asked to serve in a mentorship role for other facilitators.
Meanwhile, as a first-year student workshop facilitator, Conley is learning how to help workshops engage the diverse student membership of FFA.
“We are an agricultural-based organization, but we have kids that are from agriculture backgrounds and non-agricultural backgrounds,” Conley says. “We’ve got kids from all over the country, from all different cultures and environments that are being brought together. We have to find a way to be the most impactful to as many students as we possibly can.”
With the sponsorship of FFA corporate partners CHS Foundation, Microsoft and Nutrien Ag Solutions, Showalter and Conley look forward to sharing their workshops with FFA members this week. They are facilitating the Be Kind to Your Mind workshop, which focuses on helping students improve their mental health, and the Three Skills Advocates Have workshop, which teaches students advocacy skills for agriculture.
Reflecting on her own FFA journey, Showalter encourages members to take advantage of these opportunities.
“When I came to national convention, I was one of those students who was terrified to walk into a room with people I didn’t know,” Showalter says. “A lot of times we are scared to step out of our comfort zones, but it’s only an hour. So if we have to step outside our comfort zones for one hour for a workshop, we might as well do it and meet people from across the country.”
