FFA Day at the Capitol

I certainly loved my first ever FFA Day at the Capitol, despite the avalanche of snow. The day started extremely early as we met at the transportation building for doughnuts, juice, and welcomes from various FFA and government supporters. Then, under the direction of Julie Tesch, Sarah Tesmer, and Kevin Paap, we headed to Chairperson Mary Ellen Otremba's office and then on to a discussion with Chairman Al Juhnke. Next we sat in on the House session and were introduced on the floor. After a quick view of the Senate, we ate a bite and then visited the Governor's office and met briefly with his senior political analyst. Later we moved to a panel discussion with some great agricultural supporting legislators. The weather had gotten so bad and only the six of us and the brave members of Southwest Star Concept were left. Our final meeting of the day was with Commissioner Gene Hugoson and Robin Kinney at the Department of Agriculture where we talked about international and domestic agriculture.

Day at the Timberwolves

We took a few wrong turns on our way to the Target Center but we finally made it in time for FFA Day at the T-Wolves. Thanks to the patience and help of Sheryl Meshke and Paul Hansen and their families, we had a fun pre-game event with some great Champs food, games, and a silent auction in support of the FFA Foundation. We spent some time with members and officers from North Dakota and South Dakota and then headed to the game. The T-Wolves made for an exciting show as they came close to defeating the Los Angeles Lakers but ended just short of a victory. After the game, we went down to the floor for a group picture and then shot a free throw each. It was a great way to start National FFA Week!

CHS

We spent a day meeting with the some of the staff of star partner CHS. You might recognize them as the naming sponsor of the CHS Miracle of Birth Center. This Minnesota-based cooperative is one of the top grain marketing countries in the world. We heard from representatives from wheat trading, human resources, the CHS foundation, and public relations and topped off the day with a visit from CEO John Johnson. We truly appreciate all of the support they give us all year round!

The tastiest service project

Since our state goal this year is to achieve twenty thousand service hours, we wanted to get into the act by doing a team service project. Caitlin went to handsontwincities.org and found a really cool project at Perspectives, a home and education program for low income women and children. They have a special project developed by Star Tribune and WCCO food critic Sue Zelickson called Kids' Cafe where five star chefs come and teach kids to cook after school. This was a fundraiser event for the cafe and we were the waitstaff for the donors. We even got to eat the food after we served the guests. It was just more proof that service can be anything, even five star meals!

Leading the Challenge / Hutchinson Chapter Visit

There's no place like home! That is especially true when home is in Region V. Derek and I took a roundabout trip to LTC by first making a stop in Hutchinson. After having lunch with Ms. Rada, we headed to the high school careers class. We presented a workshop on one of our favorite topics, resume writing. After that, we headed through my hometown(s) to tape my portion of our convention video, I even had time to run into both of my parents at work. From there, we finally made the final trek to Alexandria for LTC.

It was my third Leading the Challenge and Derek's first. We arrived at Arrow Wood and met up with the Region V officers. The theme of the weekend was Ready for the Big Time and the whole place was decorated with sports paraphernalia.

On Saturday, after the first half of sessions, the group split up to either ski or visit the water park. I went with the crew skiing and joined a group where we all overcame our fear of black diamond hills and had a great but very windy time on the slopes. Exhausted and hungry, we headed to the Alexandria High School for tacos in a bag and then went back to the hotel for a GREAT dance. It was really hard to realize it was probably my last FFA dance ever as an officer but I was glad it could be at LTC. Sunday brought more sessions and goodbyes. The conference was adjourned and we started for home. Derek and I had the chance to stop and eat with the Hutchinson members at Leann Chin in St. Cloud... it was still way too early for Chinese food!

Metro Area Alumni and Friends

Derek, Caitlin, and I had the chance to join the Metro Area Alumni and Friends annual banquet at Axel's on Grand. There were lots of familiar faces around including Leah Addington, Sangeetha Gummadi, Lisa Moorehouse, Tony Seykora, Paul Hansen, and Mark Jirik as well as several new faces to meet. Commissioner of agriculture Gene Hugoson gave the keynote address and joined us for the meal. We always appreciate the help and support of the Metro Area Alumni and Friends!

Team Pictures

We spent a freezingly cold day in a the very beautiful Sogn Valley at the home of Matt and Leah Addington. Addy works with us regularly as our Leadership Development Coordinator and we have had the chance to get to know Matt as well as Cameron, and most recently, Emmy. Matt teaches and coaches at Kenyon Wannamingo and is also a fantastic photographer and graphic designer. He is the person to thank when it comes to the last several years of camp and state convention logos. Matt even took Derek and my senior pictures last year.

We had a great time taking pictures all day and enjoyed some delicious spaghetti as well.

Check out more of the pictures at http://www.mattaddington.com/proofs/index.php?do=photocart&viewGallery=1070

Winfield Solutions

Before the trip to China, our state officer day had the chance to spend a day at Winfield Solutions, part of Land O Lakes. We were fortunate enough to hear from Ms. Mary Hinsch who shared with us some information about the newly expanded company brand. We also had the pleasure of working with Ms. Lavyne Rada, Hutchinson FFA Advisor and Agricultural Education Instructor, who worked with us on speech development and introductions.

China- Too much for one blog!

The task of recapping all of an amazing trip to China has proven to be slightly daunting at the moment. A much more thorough explanation of the trip can be found at http://www.ffa.org/blogs/nationalffa/ Hopefully I will take some time to add more memories to this blog but for now I will retell my most exciting story.

On the day before our departure, we had some time to explore the Yew Garden area of Shanghai. Justin, Caitlin, and I decided to grab a quick bite to eat at McDonalds while someone else decided to quickly grab my purse. Much to my horror, all but $50 of my American and Chinese money, my checkbook, my phone, and most importantly, my passport were all gone. After a terrifying trip to a back alley Chinese police station, everyone kept telling me it would take at least a week to get home. I kept telling them I didn't have a week and I would very much like to go home the next day. Then, after a quick four hour trip to a Chinese government building that included a lot of begging and pleading, I was given Chinese clearance to leave the country. The next morning we woke up extra early and got an emergency passport from the American Consulate and arrived back at our hotel with just enough time to get on the bus and head to the airport. I was finally relieved when we were in the air and on our way home.