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Turner Ashby FFA Travels to National Convention

TA FFA journals their trip to Indianapolis

Monday, October 22, 2007

Hello everyone!

The Turner Ashby FFA Delegation made it to Indianapolis at 4:44 am this morning aboard the Amtrak Cardinal. Everything went well during our journey and the students were great! We are all a little tired so we are going to crash in our hotel for a couple hours before heading out to the town. The Agricultural Communications team consisting of Paula Craun, Jesse Martin, Stephanie Lindsay, Codi Jo Smith and Crystal Deputy is preparing for national competition, will have a team meeting later today, and will compete Wednesday morning. We also will set up the Virignia FFA exhibit today and tomorrow. A few over 55,000 members are expected to arrivein the next 24 hours--so all of the kids are really excited. We will post updates daily so that everyone will know what's happening here. Hope everyone has a good week! Here are a few pictures of the train ride!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

National Convention is here. Today, we started the day by touring the National FFA Center. It was really great to see the headquarters of the national organization. We learned that there are more than 500,000 members nationwide and that over 7,000 schools have programs. In the hall of fame, we found a picture of O. Beverly Roller, who was a 1941 national officer from Weyers Cave who is Annie Roller's father-in-law. We also saw other National Officers from Rockingham County to include Matt Lohr and Melanie Burgess. Following the tour, we had breakfast at Charlie Brown's, a restaurant where the Indy 500 drivers and crews eat on a regular basis. It was really good!! Next on our stop, we toured the CONSECO fieldhouse and RCA Dome where the convention will be held. We set up the Virginia display area and constructed the FFA Alumni State Basket for the Alumni Auction. Today was a busy day--we worked and ran from sun up to sun down and beyond. For entertainment tonight, went to the Indiana State Museum and watched an IMAX movie. Tomorrow, our team will compete in the ag. communications contest and set up two agri-science exhibits for competition. The rest of our Chapter and Dr. Fenn leave tomorrow and will arrive Thursday morning to complete our contingent. Here are some pictures that show what we are doing!!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

(Dr. Carol Fenn, Rockingham Superintendent, travels to Indianapolis with the remaining contingent. She chats with students as they wait for their Amtrak train at the Staunton depot. She emailed us this impromptu video as they look ahead to their trip.)

 

 

This morning, the rest of the Turner Ashby FFA chapter arrived in Indy along with Jeff Ishee from WSVA Radio, Jim Snavely from WBTX and our Superintendent, Dr. Fenn!! They arrived by train around 5:00a.m. this morning and went directly to the opening session. Dr. Rick Rigsby provided a motivational speech that was really out of this world! The FFA booth saw a lot of traffic today!! We had FFA members from all across the country visit. A lot of good conversation was had today by our students. Good stuff! Today was a really busy day for the Turner Ashby FFA Chapter! The Ag. Communications team presented their presentation and competed against 31 other states. They made it to the top four and presented a second time and were flawless!! We'll find out tomorrow night how they placed. At stake is at least $5,000 in scholarship money! The agri-science team also presented today to judges and were interviewed in the RCA Dome. Daniel Fleishman's and Jennifer Good's poultry project did well as well as Ashley Lough's project on heifer nutrition. We will find out tomorrow at noon how well they did! Jason Ritchie and Justin Miller received the 2-star national chapter award today for the Turner Ashby Chapter and were recognized in front of nearly 15,000 people!

Waiting for dinner in Indy on Thursday night after a full and busy day.	Then dinner - finally!

Friday, October 26, 2007 - Saturday, October 27, 2007

What a National FFA Convention! We had a great trip and the FFA Chapter was really successful!! The Ag. Communications team placed seventh overall out of 31 teams! Jesse Martin was the 6th high individual and earned a $500.00 scholarship for his work. Jesse, Paula Craun, and Codi Jo Smith earned gold ratings and Crystal Deputy and Stephanie Lindsay earned bronze ratings. The team earned a gold rating overall and their presentation was selected as best in the nation and will be used in an FFA training video that will be sent to FFA chapters across the nation. In addition, on Saturday, Steven Burgoyne, Samanta Renalds, and Justin Powers earned their American degrees. This is the highest degree the FFA can bestow upon a member. Less than 1/2 % of the membership ever earns this degree. The chapter is extremely proud of these individuals and will recognize them again at the annual chapter banquet!

Chapter members also logged more than 220 manhours assisting the Chesapeake Bay Foundation with their career show booth , the National FFA Alumni with their silent and live auctions, and the Virginia FFA educational display. Our members stayed busy the entire week, competing and providing service! Without a doubt, Turner Ashby FFA members are learning premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural eduation.

We left Indianapolis Saturday night around midnight aboard the Amtrak Cardinal and arrived in Staunton on Sunday at 1:22p.m. We had a great trip. Our hats are off to the students who participated in the excursion and all of the folks who supported the them in their efforts.

It was certainly a treat to have Dr. Fenn participate in the National FFA Convention with us. We heard many comments from students this week that Dr. Fenn was really "cool"! We appreciate her concern for students and staff and the programs they participate in.

Thanks to all who followed our trip!