By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

MECHANICSBURG, Ohio — Jacob DeLay, vice president of the Mechanicsburg FFA Chapter, along with his advisor, Sarah Heilers, joined others from across the nation to attend the 2009 Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) in the nation’s capital.

The conference is an activity of the National FFA Organization, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education. The weeklong program helps FFA members hone their leadership skills. They attended workshop sessions on persuasive communication, character leadership and building relationships and participated in discussions on citizenship.

“The purpose of the conference is to help kids my age understand about the FFA Living to Serve (LTS) plan and to help us understand that we are more fortunate than a lot of people in the world and what we can do to help,” DeLay said.

Attendees worked on their own LTS plan so when they returned to their local communities they may find ways to help those who are less fortunate.

“We did many activities,” DeLay said. “On the first day we walked around the National Mall. The theme was ‘Know Your Purpose.’ We learned how we are important in the scheme of life. We discussed the people depicted by the monuments and their life, and how they knew their purpose.”

On the last day of the conference the students took part in a community service project – they picked and packaged over 12,000 pounds of kale and other vegetables to be sent to food banks in the D.C. area. DeLay’s advisor, Sarah Heilers, said the conference is an excellent opportunity for any FFA member.

“They come out of it with such a great attitude towards life, and community service and leadership,” she said. “It is just a great opportunity for any FFA member.

“Jacob is an excellent leader. He is a bit more of a quiet leader. It was my hope that through the Washington Leadership Conference he would see some great examples of leadership that he could bring back to our chapter. I think that certainly has happened. I think he’ll be proactive in a lot of things that we’ll do over this next school year.

“One of the big focuses of the conference is community service,” she said. “He’s already put his thoughts together as far as what he would like to do in our community as a chapter activity for a community service project.”

DeLay’s ideas center on helping with a local soup kitchen called Caring Kitchen, Heilers said. He is hoping for chapter members to work at the community kitchen.

“He’d like to set up a tutoring situation where the children who make use of the community kitchen could come in and get a hot meal and at the same time maybe get help with their homework or help in any classes they might be struggling with,” Heilers said.
The National FFA Organization coordinates WLC, which attracts participants from across the country. This summer, more than 2,000 FFA members will attend one of the conference’s seven weeklong sessions.

“I couldn’t believe how amazing it was,” DeLay said. “It was a lot of fun, but you still learned a lot.”