Thousands of young students from across the state all wearing blue corduroy jackets will be at Purdue University’s campus in West Lafayette this coming week for the 94th Indiana FFA State Convention.
“Anybody who tends the sessions can expect it to be pretty hype,” says Seth Ariens, Indiana FFA President for 2022-23 who is originally from Roachdale in Putnam County and a graduate of North Putnam High School.
Ariens says the state convention will recognize a year’s worth of service and accomplishments for Indiana FFA members and advisors.
“We want those sessions to be as fun as possible. We want to recognize those members and do it and a fun way. I hope the FFA members come ready to compete at their contests, come ready to serve, and come ready to learn in the workshops. They’ll be recognized for all of their hard work and then have a blast doing it at the same time,” says Ariens.
The Indiana FFA State Convention also features workshops and opportunities for FFA members to learn and network with ag business leaders from across the state.
“We have a National FFA officer leading one of the workshops. We have a visiting State Officer from Missouri leading another workshop. There are also a few people that we met from business and industry visits that are leading workshops, so those are great networking opportunities. We have the trade show as well that happens before sessions.
We will have companies in the Elliott Hall of Music that will be set up and ready to talk with those FFA members before they head upstairs to the session,” says Ariens.
A new team of Indiana FFA State Officers for 2023-24 will be also elected and announced on the final day of the convention on Thursday, June 22. What advice does Ariens have for the next Indiana FFA President and state officer team?
“Anything that you do in Indiana FFA, you are doing with your entire team. That’s exactly what I would tell the next president,” says Ariens. “It’s really cool that they have ‘President’ on their FFA jacket, but they’re part of an officer team and I think that’s the most important part.”
“As far as advice for the entire team, I would tell them that State Office is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they need to treat it as such,” Ariens says. “They need to focus on the way they carry themselves and their professionalism, but they don’t need to lose site of the fact that it’s a whole lot of fun and they need to also make it fun for themselves.”
Ariens says he recommends FFA to high school students—even if they’re not seeking a future career in the ag industry.
“Oh, I think the selling point is the blue corduroy jacket, right? You get to look so cool in one of those!” says Ariens. “For real, I would just tell them that I’ve gained my absolute best friends in life from this organization. It’s really the people you meet and the skills you learn from it through those people. They just allow you to grow and expand your horizons past anything that you could ever imagine.”
You can find coverage of the 94th Indiana FFA State Convention throughout this coming week at HoosierAgToday.com.
Click HERE to find the agenda preview for the 94th Indiana FFA State Convention.
Click below to hear C.J. Miller’s radio news report for Hoosier Ag Today.
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