This week, tens of thousands of FFA members will walk through the Indiana Convention Center, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Lucas Oil Stadium filled with excitement about the 97th National FFA Convention & Expo. However, helping each member thrive wouldn’t be possible without the commitment of countless volunteers.
Whether they’re working in a hotel information booth, managing the shopping mall and mega store, cultivating collegiate connections in the expo hall or judging competitive events like Career and Leadership Development Events, these individuals add a personal touch to convention.
“I got to listen to members speak about animal science projects and ask them questions,” says Dakotah Walker, events and merchandise manager for New Holland North America and one of this year’s convention judges. “It’s really exciting to see how passionate these students are about their projects that they’ve been working on all year.”
John Lopez is an agriculture science teacher at Klein Forest High School in Houston, Texas. He’s spending his week volunteering around convention at the National FFA Agriscience Fair.
“We’re hanging up posters and getting all of the students’ hard work posted for everyone to see,” he says.
Getting all of the volunteers together is no easy task; it takes a lot of time to ensure there will be enough people contributing to this event’s success. One of these people is Maeve Wurester, the National FFA events manager. In her role, Wurester spends lots of time working with Embassy Events to collect volunteers from all over the city of Indianapolis, state of Indiana and across the country.
“There’s something to be said about the Hoosier hospitality that comes along with being from Indiana, and it’s certainly something that our students, teachers and advisors really love to see,” Wurester says. “That being said, we also have a lot of FFA members and alumni who will volunteer. Some of our National FFA staff also get into the mix every once in a while.”
FFA members can also serve on the Courtesy Corps to help others have the best experience possible. Kaydence Wooten, an FFA member from Illinois FFA who’s serving as the current section 16 president, says she enjoys getting to volunteer at convention.
“I love spending time with people that I know,” Wooten says. “I’m so glad to meet a bunch of different people, set up the mega store and have some fun.”
Without all of these volunteers, National FFA wouldn’t be able to accommodate the amount of members, advisors, alumni, supporters and more who venture to Indianapolis for convention. Therefore, make sure to thank a volunteer the next time you see one.
