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Students hope to pay it forward by becoming national FFA officers
 

 By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN

Michigan Correspondent

 INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A new student leadership team will soon be in place to represent the National FFA Organization during the next year.

Each year the National FFA organization selects six students as national FFA officers. A representative from each state covered by Farm World is in the running for an officer position, including Claire Baney of Indiana, Joey Birrittier of Illinois, Savannah Keitzer of Iowa, Julia Knaggs of Tennessee, Ryan Matthews of Ohio, Conner Richardson of Kentucky and Adrian Schunk of Michigan.

Baney is a freshman at Purdue University double majoring in Agricultural Education and Agricultural Economics with plans to pursue a career within the agricultural industry. She is the past state president of the Indiana FFA Association, serving from 2017-2018.

She said she is “humbled to represent the Indiana FFA’s 12,000 members as a 2018 National FFA Officer candidate.”

During her five years as a member of the Hamilton Southeastern FFA, the 19-year-old said she developed a passion for agriculture, FFA and helping others succeed. She served as the Hamilton Southeastern FFA reporter and president, where she organized a variety of chapter events such as Greenhand Initiation, donkey basketball and banquets along with her team, while advocating for FFA and agriculture. She said her chapter involvement helped her gain valuable leadership skills which she put to use while serving as the 2015-2016 Indiana FFA State Chorus President and the 2016-2017 Indiana FFA Section II Director. She has participated in a variety of other FFA-related programs, including career and leadership development events and has competed in agricultural competitions.

Keitzer grew up on a diversified row crop and livestock operation in southeast Iowa, which she said built her passion for agriculture. Throughout her childhood, she was actively involved in both 4-H and FFA and served the Iowa FFA Association as a state officer in 2016-2017. Her family’s background in agriculture led her to Iowa State University where she is pursuing a degree in agriculture communications with a minor in leadership studies. She plans to pursue a career focused on narrowing the gap between the farm gate and the dinner plate through agriculture literacy and advocacy.

She said being selected as a national officer candidate “is very humbling. When I was a freshman, I went to national convention. There were about 64,000 people in attendance. I was sitting there and I told my ag advisor that when I grow up I want to be like the people on stage, and I never knew I would make it this far.

“It is just so cool to think about that goal a long time ago. I really dreamed about it, but never thought I could be here. It’s just very humbling to stand among the other candidates and think they probably have had a similar experience in terms of wanting to be in this situation,” she said.

If elected, Keitzer, 20, said she will work to share the organization’s story with a diverse audience.

“There’s a lot of push for diversity and inclusion among all different aspects of our organization, whether it’s getting more members involved, or the community involved, or attracting more people to become ag teachers.”

She said she believes in “creating a community of people who all have the same goal, and the same mission of our organization.”

Knaggs is the immediate Past State President for Tennessee FFA. Her roots in the organization began during her time as a member of the Station Camp FFA Chapter in Sumner County, Tenn., where her supervised agricultural experience was agricultural education.

She said being chosen as a national officer candidate “is an incredible honor. When you think about it, only six out of more than 650,000 students are chosen each year for this opportunity. Being a national officer, you travel over 100,000 miles in one year. You’re meeting with students and stakeholders. You’re really the voice of the students. To me, when they’re selecting that team, they’re looking for someone who is going to support the best interests and really show a sampling of what our student population looks like.

“For me, definitely one of my biggest goals is to share the story of students across the nation. I know personally, coming into FFA, I didn’t think I had an agricultural background, but FFA is what really showed me that my entire life I did,” she said. “I didn’t grow up on a farm, but my dad has always worked in food distribution and supply chain management, so I knew that at some point, food made its way from the farm to the table.

“FFA really brought that to light for me,” Knaggs said. “It really made me passionate that all of our students do have an agricultural background.

Knaggs, 19, is a student at the University of Tennessee at Martin where she is majoring in agricultural business with a minor in communications. She is also a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, University Scholars Organization and Collegiate Farm Bureau. She hopes to pursue a career in agricultural policy and development.

Matthews is a 2016 graduate of Fairfield High School where he was an active member of the FFA chapter, serving as an officer for two years and participating in a variety of Career Development Events (CDEs) ranging from parliamentary procedure to rural soil judging. His Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) included market hogs and agriculture education. Through these experiences, he earned his State Degree and American Degree. He went on to serve as a 2016-2017 State Vice President at Large for the Ohio FFA and then as Ohio FFA State President in 2017-2018.

 “It’s unimaginable that I’m here,” he said. “I kind of took a chance on FFA. My brothers were in it, and it seemed like something cool I wanted to do and I needed to find a place where I belonged and try to find who I was. I found that in a blue jacket.

“Once I realized everything FFA has given to me, I wanted to give that back,” he said. “However far I can go is my dream. That led me to running for chapter office and then for state office, and now I’m here. It’s a huge honor to be in the running for this.”

He said his goal if elected is “to pay it forward. I think what’s most important, whether it’s in FFA or in life, is sharing those little moments with people. Whether it’s a conversation or talking about future aspirations with students or even stakeholders and sponsors. Sharing those little moments may be what is going to make the biggest difference in someone’s life. Those little moments are why I’m here.

Matthews is a sophomore at Ohio State University where he is studying agricultural communications and political science. He aspires to either attend law school or work in the legislature.

Richardson graduated from Campbell County High School in 2017, where he was a member of Campbell County FFA for four years. He is currently a sophomore at the University of Kentucky where he is studying agricultural education. He is involved with the university’s Agricultural Education Society and Block and Bridle. Richardson served as the Kentucky State Reporter in 2017-2018.

Schunk is a member of the Mason FFA Chapter. Although she grew up showing livestock at her county fair, she said it wasn’t until she was enrolled in an agriculture education class during her freshman year of high school that she realized the opportunities available in the agriculture industry. Her advisor encouraged her to compete in a speech contest, where she developed an appreciation for public speaking.

From there, Schunk had opportunities to serve in chapter, regional and state leadership positions, where she said she was grateful to mentor and make an impact on members in the FFA organization.

According to the National FFA Organization website, the primary responsibility of a national officer is to serve the organization in local, state, national and international activities in a way that will inform, motivate and inspire FFA members, advisors, state staff, teachers and others to achieve the mission, strategies and core goals of the organization.

National officers dedicate one year of service with the organization. The time is spent representing student membership during meetings with the National FFA Board of Directors, facilitating workshops that bring leadership and knowledge to FFA members, delivering motivational speeches and serving as advocates for FFA on a global scale.

National officers will be selected by a nominating committee at the 91st National FFA Convention & Expo, Oct. 24-27 in Indianapolis.

10/17/2018