Written by Will Smith the 2023-2024 Racine Southern FFA Reporter and pictures by John Scott 2023-2024 Racine Southern FFA Historian
There were eight students who qualified for a free trip to the National FFA convention trip from the Racine Southern FFA Chapter. Those who qualified to attend were: Will Smith, Wyatt Smith, Nathaniel Nero, Hannah Turley, Katie Rowe, Corey Seth, Emma Owens, and Hunter Jarrell. These eight students were among the top eight with the most FFA points throughout the 2022-2023 school year. Our itinerary was as follows:
On Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
● Around 7:45 AM Board Van
● Around 11:00 AM Lunch at Ford’s Garage
● Around 1:00 AM Arrive at Gorman Heritage Farm. We toured the farm and it was
pretty fun. We learned all about the history of the farm and got to see all of their
cool animals. They showed us all of their gardens and what they planted.
● Around 4:00 PM Hotel at Great Wolf Lodge
(Waterpark and dinner there)
On Wednesday Nov 1, 2023
● Around 7:30 AM Depart from Hotel
● Around 8:00 AM Jungle Jim’s International Market. Jungle Jim's International
Market is a huge market with foods from all kinds of different countries.
● We attended a student workshop called “Be Kind to Your Mind”. Whether needing
better sleep or relaxing when you get home, this workshop will give you
advice/tips on how to be kind to your mind.
● Around 12:00 PM Expo/shopping. There were tons of places to shop at and lots
of vendors in the expo that you can go too and you can play games and learn new
things about that specific vendor. Different colleges and agriculture business
were all there.
● Around 3:00 PM Hotel/dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Nicolino’s Restaurant
and Lounge and it was a supper good Italian restaurant that we all enjoyed.
● Around 8:00 PM Bad Ax Throwing. Axthrowing was fun for all of us. It took us
awhile, some more than others to get the ax thrown down but eventually we all
got it down and played a full game.
On Thursday Nov 2, 2023
● Around 7:15 AM Opening Session. The first one was the opening session with
guest speaker Juan Bendana. It was a fun experience for the Racine Southern
FFA Chapter members. Here is what happened at the first session of the 96th
National FFA Convention. As with all sessions they start with the Opening
Ceremony then the Presentation of State Flags then the National Advisor
Welcomes everyone to the session. After that the National FFA band and Chorus
makes a Grand entry then the Foundation Board Recognition and the Keystone
speaker Juan Bendana makes an entrance and talks about how to be like Pepe.
Then closing ceremony to end the first session of the 96th annual National
Convention.
● Around 12:00 PM Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tour. The tour at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway we pretty interesting they took us all the way around the track
and had an audio recording that told us everything about the track and then we
stop and got off at the finish line where the bricks are and a new bus picked us
up and we went back to the beginning and look at all the formula one race cars
they had there.
● Around 3:00 PM Ozark Fisheries Tour. The Ozark Fisheries tour was cool. They
showed us how they grew the fish and where the fish would have their fry. They
also showed us a map of all their ponds and they had tons of ponds and all kinds
of cool breeds of fish.
● Around 8:00 PM Buckeye Bash in the Barn. The buckeye bash was a place where
only people from Ohio could go and have fun and dance, play games, meet new
people, and just have fun.
On Friday Nov 3, 2023
● Around 2:15 PM Fifth general session (Lucas Oil Stadium). The second session
we went to was the fifth general Session. First was the opening ceremony then
national officer team went through the Agricultural Proficiency Awards
(Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, Forest Management, Outdoor
Recreation, Wildlife Production, Agricultural Processing, Agriculture Research –
Plant Systems, Diversified Crop Production, Diversified Horticulture, Fiber/Oil
Crop Production, Forage Production) and National FFA Agriscience Fair (Plant
Systems) award. We also watched the National officer team recognise their
advisors and mentors. After that they introduced the 2023-24 National officer
candidates. Then the National FFA Secretary Jessica Herr said her retiring
address, it was called “The Yellow Table”. Then closing ceremony to end the fifth
session of the 96th annual National Convention.
● Around 5:00 PM Fast Times Go-Kart Racing. The go-kart track was really fun for
all of us. We all enjoyed the competition of racing with each other and getting the
fastest time. Corey Seth got third, Jenna Meeks got second, and Shawn Donahue
came in at first and was really close to the track record for the day.
● Around 7:00 BRU Burger Bar for dinner with delicious burgers!
Saturday Nov 4, 2023
● Around 6:15 AM American Degree Ceremony. This session we went to was the
American Degree ceremony where both Dylan Lyons and Kristin McKay got their
American degrees which is the hardest degree for an FFA member to get. The
American degree ceremony is where members from each state get awarded with
their American degree.
● Around 2:15 PM Bob Evans on the way home for a late lunch
● Around 5:00 PM arrival time back at Southern.
Picture from left to right: FFA members who attended the 96th National FFA Convention, Will Smith, Hannah Turley, Wyatt Smith, Katie Rowe, Emma Owens, Nathanial Nero, Corey Seth and Hunter Jarrell
Both Kristin McKay and Dylan Lyons both got their American Degree. Less than
.5% of FFA members get their American Degree, The American Degree is one of the
hardest degrees you can achieve as an FFA member. The American FFA Degree is the
highest honor awarded to FFA members who have demonstrated the highest level of
commitment to FFA and made significant accomplishments in their supervised
agricultural experience. Members may apply for their American degree only if they have
received the State FFA Degree, have graduated from high school at least twelve months
prior to the national convention and meet the very high standards for the degree.
Picture of Dylon Lyons and Kristin McKay an being awarded their American degree
We had a great trip and really looked forward to next years National FFA Convention