With this year’s National FFA Convention & Expo theme, “Engage,” FFA wants all members to know that no matter where they come from or what their background is, they belong and have a home in the organization. As an FFA Live! Inside Convention reporter, I had the opportunity to go inside the Indiana Convention Center – the hub of convention activity – to ask FFA members what this year’s theme means to them.
- “Engage means to me just being involved and making sure people around you are just involved,” says Iowa FFA member Rylee Caviness. “Make sure everybody knows what FFA is doing and what they mean and what we’re trying to do with FFA, and really expand FFA and try to get bigger.”
- “I’m not really from an ag background and I wasn’t even really sure that I wanted to be an FFA member, says Delaware FFA member Colleen Nicholson. “Throughout my time in FFA, I’ve kind of been inspired by other people and grown a love for this organization from the people in it to feel like I belong despite where I come from and my background.”
- Oklahoma FFA member Tyse Buck’s experience as an FFA in the USA National Reporter helps him engage with members. “I report on stories from across the country and I can help to make more FFA members feel involved and get involved within FFA,” he says.
- FFA also allows members to interact with new people and cultures that they might not be familiar with. “When I started (in FFA), I was kind of an outcast. I didn’t really know anybody,” says North Carolina FFA member Jayden Penny. “So when I went to my first convention, I kind of learned everything, and I met a lot of new people.”
- For North Carolina FFA member Aiyonna Bowden, the opportunity to engage with members from different states has been impressive. “Somebody from Georgia gave me a friendship bracelet and people from all different states were asking me to write my state and my name on their paper since I’m from North Carolina, and I loved the experience.”
FFA members are taking this year’s convention theme to heart by creating communities of belonging wherever they go. Engage means something different to each member, but they all make sure that whether you are an FFA member or not, you feel welcomed in the FFA community.
