March 29, 2024

Langreck: Indiana FFA forges ahead

Since I was old enough to attend my first Indiana FFA State Convention the summer after my freshman year of high school, I haven’t missed attending at least one session of the annual event since then.

I must say attending the convention as an adult has some perks, including not sweating profusely as the sun shines directly on the blue corduroy of an FFA jacket.

However, this year due to strict restrictions and regulations on face-to-face gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I attended the Indiana FFA State Convention without even having to step outside my front door.

While it was not a traditional convention, the 2019-2020 Indiana FFA state officer team members followed their theme of “Forge through the Fire” and forged ahead to find a way to still make sure Indiana FFA had a state convention.

I cannot even imagine the amount of hard work, patience and time management that the team had to put into pulling a virtual convention together in a matter of weeks.

In my opinion, not only did they pull it off, they knocked the expectations of a virtual convention out of the park.

The level of time, creativity and effort that went into the recorded videos of the opening ceremonies, state officer retiring addresses and sponsor greetings definitely showed.

Although there were a few technical difficulties with some of the audio, I can 100% say that of all the virtual programs, webinars, field days and graduations I have watched and covered since the pandemic began, the 91st Indiana FFA Virtual Convention has been the best by far.

I know the upcoming months will be different for the newly elected 2020-2021 Indiana FFA state officer team, especially with not having a State Fair and not running the FFA Pavilion there for three weeks this summer, but if they follow the initiative of the team before them, they will be able to forge their own way and lead Indiana FFA.