By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent

HAYESVILLE, Ohio — As the National FFA Organization’s Eastern Region Vice President, Hannah Crossen will spend around 320 days on the road, logging over 100,000 miles of travel. And she wouldn’t trade a minute of the experience.

“If anyone could have told me that I would be here right now, I would have told them they were crazy,” said Crossen, a native of the Hillsdale FFA chapter in Hayesville, Ohio. “But that is what the FFA can do. It can make the impossible very possible. I feel that I am an example of that, and I am very blessed to have such an amazing opportunity.”

As Eastern Region Vice President, Crossen’s job description includes inspiring more than 500,000 fellow FFA members. She was elected to that office during the 81st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis last fall. She was among six individuals selected from a field of 38 to hold a national office. She is the daughter of Christopher and Katherine Crossen, and her FFA advisors are Mark Hoffman and Lindsay Bowen.

Crossen started her FFA experience much the same as any other freshman entering the agricultural education program. Her Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program consisted of raising market lambs for the Ashland County Fair, the Ohio State Fair and the North American International Livestock Exposition as well as raising market hogs to show at the county level. She also worked at the Tea Hills Poultry Processing Plant in Mohicanville, Ohio, and on her family farm in addition to completing several home improvement projects, including installing a new patio and remodeling her basement.

But participating in Career Development Events (CDEs) that involved public speaking competitions were where Crossen found her niche. She was a national semi-finalist in extemporaneous public speaking and won first-place state honors in agricultural sales and job interview career development events. Crossen also competed in parliamentary procedure, general livestock judging, and poultry judging CDEs.

“I decided to run for state office, because I desired to serve the organization outside of my chapter,” said Crossen, who served as the 2006 Ohio State FFA President. “From there, the decision to run for national office felt like the next step in my FFA career. Servant leadership has always pulled on my heartstrings, and I hope that I will continue to find ways to serve this organization because it so deeply impacts students’ lives.”

But the road to a national office is not easy. Crossen began preparing for her national officer candidate interviews last May, studying agriculture, FFA and agricultural education all last summer while working at Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum.

The national FFA officer selection process is intense and represents an assessment of years of academic and extracurricular accomplishments made by each student running for office.
Nominees must first qualify on the state level to represent their particular state FFA associations. They then submit a thorough application, detailing their accomplishments and contributions to the community, along with an essay explaining their desire to be elected to national office.

Once at the convention, candidates participate in five rounds of interviews, take an in-depth written test on the organization and agricultural education topics and complete two writing exercises. A panel of nine state FFA officers comprises the nominating committee that proposes the slate of six officers for approval by the convention delegates.

“The most surprising part of the process was how many friends I made,” said Crossen, who is a student at The Ohio State University, where she is a member of OSU Alpha Zeta Partners, the OSU Buckeye Leadership Society, the OSU Agricultural Education Society and the OSU Scarlet and Gray Ag Day Committee. “I expected that everyone would be very competitive. All of the other candidates were amazing, and I had so much fun getting to know them and still talking with them.”

Crossen said having her name called as a national officer at the convention was an unforgettable experience.

“Wow! There’s no way to explain what that feeling was like, and I don’t really even remember my initial thoughts,” Crossen said. “My teammates told me that after I ran onstage I said something to the effect of, ‘Oh, my gosh! My legs are numb!’ I was just so honored and felt so blessed to be chosen to represent this organization. Words can’t begin to explain what this means to me.”
Crossen will spend the year meeting with top leaders in business, government and education; visiting approximately 40 states; and participating in an international experience tour to Japan. Her responsibilities will include providing personal growth and leadership training for students, setting policies that shape the future of the organization and promoting agricultural literacy.

Along with her fellow national officer teammates, Crossen spent the entire month of December training at the National FFA Center in Indianapolis. After spending Christmas with their families, the team traveled back to Indianapolis for more training before traveling to Delaware for Experience week. The team was also excited to be on-hand in Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration.

From D.C., it was around the world to Japan, where they worked with the Future Farmers of Japan and learned about Japanese culture, agricultural products and international trade. Crossen will be celebrating National FFA Week in Mississippi.

“The thing that I find most interesting about everywhere I go is that the people are relatively the same,” Crossen said. “As much as people like to think that they are different because they come from a different part of the country, everyone I meet still has the same simplistic values, treats me with the utmost hospitality and welcomes me with open arms. It’s nice to know that when I’m thousands of miles away from my family, everyone is family and everywhere is home.”

And as far as the rest of the national officer team goes, Crossen says she could not ask for better teammates.

“I know that’s a typical statement, but it is absolutely true,” Crossen said. “I have so much respect for each of them and I am honored to have the opportunity not only to work with them, but also to call them my friends. While we work much of the time, we do know how to have fun! There is never a shortage of dancing, jokes and friendly jabs to the ribs. We really enjoy catching movies, grabbing dinner together and just spending time telling stories about our families and friends back at home. Already, they have become my best friends and I am blessed to have them in my life.”

Someday, Crossen hopes to give her own students the same opportunities FFA and agricultural education gave her. For now, Crossen and her teammates will be traveling the country logging both smiles and miles. And they’ll be posting a blog of their adventures at www.ffa.org/blogs/nationalofficers