Representatives from two of the three states receiving honors for their outstanding Hall of States exhibits at the 90th National FFA Convention & Expo were not available to receive their recognition at the time of the awarding of the winning banners. New Hampshire FFA (Granite State) and Tennessee FFA joined California (featured previously) in being recognized outstanding work highlighting their states’ agriculture commodities and opportunities.
New Hampshire FFA
The Granite State FFA booth was developed and staffed by the members of the Sugar River Valley FFA Chapter of Newport, N.H. The booth featured New Hampshire agricultural products, including maple products. The booth was modeled after a ‘Sugar Shack’ which is representative of Sugar River Valley in New Hampshire and New England. The Sugar River Valley FFA Chapter is advised by Deborah Stevens, Sam Nelson & Lynn Wharton.
Sponsors of the New Hampshire booth included K.A. Stevens & Son Construction, Art Attack Signs, Beaver Pond Farm and the Granite State FFA Association.
Tennessee FFA
The Tennessee Association Booth was developed and staffed by members of the McGavock FFA Chapter of Nashville, Tenn. The McGavock FFA booth team included Allison Heath, Erin Taylor, Jennifer Andrade, Paciance Greenlee, and Alyssa Neal, with additional help given by Kalli Cobb, Colby Chapman, and Angelica Sam. The McGavock advisor is Jessie Lumpkins.
The Tennessee booth – titled “Cooking Up Diverse Agriculturists to Make Tennessee Proud” – featured six diverse agriculturists from Tennessee and was sponsored in part by the Tennessee FFA Foundation. The booth allowed visitors to play Tennessee Agriculture Plinko in order to randomly select one of the six featured agriculturists. After learning about these individuals, visitors were encouraged to keep a giveaway card of that person in the back of their convention nametag, while they also considered a keyword related to this person and a reflective question on their involvement in FFA. Visitors who completed all tasks were given a sample of a Tennessee candy favorite, Goo Goo Clusters.
