This year’s National FFA convention broke records, drawing more than 73,000 members, advisors, and guests…the highest attendance in FFA history. Thousands of blue-jacketed members packed the convention hall, eagerly awaiting the moment six new leaders were revealed.
Leading the team is Trey Myers of Oklahoma, who will serve as National FFA President.
“I hear Oklahoma called. From that point I kinda blacked out a little bit. I don’t remember everything. Someone told me I put my hand over my chest, so I guess I did that. I started taking off and the floor was super slick. I started sliding all over the floor and it was just kinda crazy. I get up on stage and I couldn’t stop, so I run into this group of people and I head-butted Jael on accident…sorry Jael. Just an unreal moment that I will absolutely never forget.”
Joining him are Lilly Nyland of Michigan as National Secretary; Joey Nowotny of Delaware, Eastern Region Vice President; Jael Cruikshank of Oregon, Western Region Vice President; T. Wayne Williams of Tennessee, Southern Region Vice President; and Claire Woeppel of Nebraska, Central Region Vice President.
These young leaders will travel the country in the coming year, inspiring more than one million FFA members nationwide to grow their leadership, build careers in agriculture, and live out the organization’s motto — Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, and Living to Serve.
“In humility, how can I place other people’s interests above my own. That’s not only my goal for this next 12 months but my goal in life is how can I be the person that is more concerned about the needs of other people than my own personal gain. My one goal throughout this year is just be more focused on someone else’s needs than my own. There may be a cool title that I was blessed to receive, but it’s not about Trey Myers, it’s about the million FFA members all across the country that are waiting to have an awesome FFA experience.”
Myer’s was quick to hand out thank you’s to those that helped him to achieve this goal but the biggest thank you was reserved for one special person.
“I was having a difficult day as most of us do and I come back to my house after a long day of class and work, and I sit down at my desk about to open up my computer to do chemistry homework. I look down and I see a note that was on my desk. It said, ‘Your soft heart and hard work make you who you are.’ That note still sits on my desk and in fact this week it was with me in my jacket…and so my mom is the biggest thank you I need to give out. She’s shaped me into who I am today and I can’t thank her enough.”
From the record-breaking crowd in Indianapolis to the bright future ahead, FFA’s next chapter looks golden — and blue.
