North Harford’s FFA went to their national competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, from Nov. 1 to Nov. 4. The purpose of the national convention is to grow and support the future generations of farmers.
“Throughout the National FFA Convention, students compete in various career development events, participate in leadership workshops, volunteer for service learning activities, tour the career show, and view the official business sessions,” wrote Maryland FFA.
Junior Johnathan VanBuskirk says his experience was “great; my team got sixth nationally, and I got eighth individually.” He continues, “I got to meet a bunch of new people and got to make friends with people at the competition.” People from all around the country were at the convention. This experience was an opportunity to meet new people and have a fun experience in the area. “The location – I mean the rodeos, the concerts, just going to get food, even just talking to people, it was great,” said VanBuskirk.
But, the group wasn’t just there for a great time and to meet new people. They were also there to compete against students in FFA from throughout the country. “The competition was more challenging than we expected, but I think it turned out well,” described VanBuskirk. Fellow junior Frank DeLucia also went to the convention. “I’m on the forestry team, and we came sixth overall…I came in fourth individually,” he said.
The process of the competition was long. “So, they bus us out to the state forest outside of Indianapolis, and we did like a bunch of tree identification,” described DeLucia. “We did compass and the digital knowledge test, and then they bused us back,” he continued.
Nationals is meant to help students grow their knowledge of agriculture and show their knowledge as well. They do more than just compete at the convention. “So, the expo is just a bunch of different agricultural stands and companies set up, and you could just go around and the people there would tell you about stuff. They’ll [also] hand out free things,” said DeLucia. He continues, “then there’s also colleges, which provide a really good opportunity for networking and looking at planning your future bright.” Delucia says he is “planning on looking into combining math and forestry” in the future. He says that this trip helped reinforce those ideas and motivate him.
Now, North Harford’s FFA is back home and planning new events and meetings and continuing to grow their knowledge. The FFA is planning on meeting soon for a leadership meeting, primarily for the incoming freshman class. “This leadership meeting is basically all the FFA members coming together to discuss the new leadership and incoming students,” said freshman Abigail Simms. There are already people in a leadership role, but the current members of the freshman class will eventually be moving into those positions.