 |
| The 2017 1st place PA Ag Sales Team. |
Tuesday
 |
| With an "advisor" name badge comes a feeling of awesome! |
On Tuesday (10/24/17) I met the crew at Manheim Central High School. We packed into the school van and headed down the road to the Baltimore airport. Two of our four students had never flown before so it was a new experience for them. They were excited and all went well! Once we arrived in Indy, we took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel and got settled in before walking to dinner at Weber Grill. After a delicious meal Mrs. Anderson and I walked into the convention center to register our party and print our name badges. This was an easy task and certainly something I would prefer to do on Tuesday night as opposed to Wednesday because the lines were relatively short and easy to maneuver. I also would suggest completing this task without students in tow because it would become quite chaotic. Mrs. Anderson had a slight printing issue with her judges badge so we waited in the customer service line and met a lot of cool teachers from Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, and Arkansas. I appreciated all of the fun stories that they shared with me while we waited. Finally we escaped that line and went on back to the hotel. The four students along with Mrs. Seibert were practicing for their Ag Sales contest which would take place the next day. After a successful practice we all separated ways and went to our rooms for bed.
Wednesday
 |
| Selfie while completing an inquiry based lab about hydrangeas. |
Wednesday (10/25/17) was a big day for me! I applied for the DuPont Agriscience Institute National Agriscience Preservice Teacher Program in the months leading up to convention and I was lucky to be selected alongside 4 of my #PSUAgEd18 cohort members. While my four Ag Sales students were off competing, I was learning the ways of Inquiry Based Instruction from Dr. Laura Hasselquist. The workshop was great and I am pairing it with the IBI lessons that we are going through in #AEE412 right now! After the workshop I met up with Mrs. Anderson and we walked to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to see the opening session of the 90th annual National FFA Convention. It was inspiring to see that many young people in a room answering the question "FFA Members, why are we here?" At the conclusion of the session we quickly returned to the hotel for the students to change out of official dress so that we could all attend the Rascal Flatts concert at Lucas Oil Stadium. I'll admit that it was a fun concert to attend even though the band continued to refer to us as "The Future Leaders of America."
Thursday
 |
| Mrs. Seibert with one of the gauchos at Fogo de Chao! |
Thursday (10/26/17) the students had the written portion of the Ag Sales CDE. Mrs. Seibert and I anxiously awaited while they took the test and talked about the Spring semester and my student teaching. After they emerged from the test, we listened to their funny stories about the testing room and then walked over to the career show. I then entered a zone of focus. I had been prepared for this moment of attack. I circled the expo and tried to talk to as many companies as possible determining if they had any resources that could help me during my pre-service journey. After hours of walking around snatching resources and bumping into people I know, I went back to the hotel to prepare for our dinner. Our whole group had been looking forward to this meal. It was at Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse where endless meat is served on skewers by incredibly talented gauchos. We left with smiles on our faces and our bellies stuffed. We walked to the downtown fountain and spent some time enjoying Indy before heading to the hotel and going to bed.
Friday
 |
| The team proudly showing off their "silver team" plaque! |
Friday (10/27/17) was the morning where we attended the Ag Sales awards breakfast. The four students were incredibly curious to find out how they did. Alec received an individual bronze, Marie and Daniele received individual silver awards, and Heidi received an individual gold! Overall the team was awarded a silver plaque. I was and still am ver proud of them. They put countless hours into studying by coming into school early for practice and spending some Saturdays working as a team to study around Manheim. We all then went back into the career show and I scouted out some more resources and did a bit of shopping in the FFA mall. That evening I had planned to attend dinner at Dave and Buster's with the Penn State group that were underclassmen and therefore not traveling with a cooperating center. It was super fun! Dr. Curry had set it up so that we had the chance to meet about half a dozen students in Ag Ed from North Carolina State University. We swapped stories and shared facts about our cooperating center before playing D&B games. After the fun, I went back to my hotel to sleep in preparation for our last day of convention together!
Saturday
 |
| Mrs. Seibert, Mrs. Anderson, the team, and Brooke after she received her American Degree. |
Saturday (10/28/17) was a very early morning! We woke up, got dressed and packed and then walked back over to Lucas Oil Stadium to see a Manheim Central High School graduate receive her American Degree. I was glad to be there and support other members that I knew who were also receiving a degree although it appeared that the list of names from Missouri would never cease. After this we went to lunch before gathering our things from the hotel lobby and shuttling back to the airport. We passed our time by watching some airport employees pass a football on the tarmac and following the score of the Penn State vs Ohio State game (a L at 39-38). After a long day of travel we made it back to Manheim at around 8:30pm with just enough time to sleep and rest for one day before the start of school the next week.
To Sum Things Up
In summary I learned a lot on this trip. My main take aways were:
 |
| My fellow cohort member, George with some great free resources! |
- Things can get crazy when you have students on a trip away from the school let alone out of the state itself. Having an itinerary that was put together in advance with thought as to what we should be doing and when really made a big difference in the level of stress that the trip carried. Remember that comfortable shoes are a must and that the kids will get burnt out if you run them too hard. Make sure to build in some down time so that you aren't herding zombies around Indianapolis.
- Flying was lovely because the added worries of maneuvering a van in the city was eliminated but this was only possible because we were placed in the downtown housing block. I had a great time and will certainly take advantage of the resources next year as well!
Angie! I am so glad you were able to go to National Convention for the first time. It is an incredible experience to have with students. From my perspective, since this was my 4th time attending, being in the role of an "advisor" definitely adds crucial responsibility. Not only do you have to make all of the arrangements to go to convention, you have to trust the students you take to represent their chapter, school, and the FFA well. However, I believe it is an experience that all students should have if they desire.
ReplyDeleteAngie, thanks for sharing so much about your first trip to NFFA Convention! What was your favorite part and what would you like to see when you attend in the future with students?
ReplyDelete