By Julie Tomascik
Editor
A sea of blue and gold will converge on Indianapolis this week as the National FFA Convention gets underway Oct. 24-27.
Several Texas FFA chapters will make the trip, representing the state in national competitions and serving as voting delegates.
“FFA gives students the opportunity to apply practical classroom knowledge to real world experiences through local, state and national competitions,” Mia Balko, Texas Farm Bureau director of Youth and Urban Outreach, said. “This week, we’ll see several Texas FFA members competing on the national level, but members will also be voting delegates during the business session helping to set the future framework for the National FFA Organization and state organizations.”
During the business session, 475 voting delegates share ideas and perspectives to ensure the continued progress of the National FFA Organization. Texas FFA has the largest delegation with 71 delegates.
Teams and individual members from Texas will compete in more than 70 contests this week. Those range from the agriscience fair to career development events like prepared public speaking, livestock evaluation and parliamentary procedure. Students will also compete in agricultural proficiency awards, which recognize FFA members who have developed specialized skills through a supervised agricultural experience that they can apply to future careers.
Texas also has a national officer candidate. Conner McKinzie, a sophomore at Texas Tech University majoring in Animal Science, will go through the rigorous officer selection process this week.
Each year, the National FFA Organization selects six student members to represent the organization as a national FFA officer.
A national officer’s responsibilities include serving the organization in local, state, national and international activities during the one-year term. Officers also facilitate workshops for FFA members, deliver motivational speeches and serve as FFA advocates on a global scale.
McKinzie served as Texas FFA State First Vice President for the 2016-17 school year. He graduated from Stephenville High School in 2016.
Texas FFA is the nation’s largest state FFA association with a membership of more than 119,000 members.
Texas Farm Bureau is a supporter of Texas FFA and Texas 4-H.