Front row: Tessa Slaybaugh, Blair Brown, Tatum Brittain, Carrie Downing, Taryn Carroll, Alli Wiers and Coy Gruber. Back row: Dayton Crawley, Aaron Langgaard, Gavin Steensen, Creighton Suhr, Joe Fagan, Reece Emgarten and Andrew Baumert.
Special to the Times Vedette
Each year, the Southwest district and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the southwest district. On Oct. 15, Atlantic High School welcomed FFA chapters from all over the southwest district. This year, a total of 284 members from 33 chapters were in attendance, 14 of which were ACGC FFA members.
While at Atlantic High School on Oct. 15, district and state officers led four interactive workshops for first-year high school FFA members, also known as Greenhands, for the annual Greenhand Fire Up Conference. The workshops facilitated were leadership-focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students.
Iowa FFA President Chloe Zittergruen stated, “Greenhand Fire Up provides a chance for first-year high school members to get a sneak peek of the opportunities that FFA holds, and is a conference for members to meet and interact with state and district officers.” When asked about their experience, members Joe Fagan, Blair Brown and Tatum Brittain described the conference as an opportunity to meet new people, to have fun, and a good learning experience for new members.
The officers prepared and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities — in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. Greenhand Fire Up is made possible with support from the Iowa FFA Foundation.