Members of the Tyrone FFA participated in a Chapter Officer Leadership Training (COLT) session led by Pennsylvania State FFA President Mikara Anderson and State FFA Secretary Jessica Herr in Tyrone on November 16.

The state officers gave their guidance and helped the Chapter Officer Team create a chapter mission statement and team statement for the chapter.

They also discussed that while each member of a team has individual responsibilities for their specific positions, they must also work together as a cohesive unit to grow the FFA family atmosphere at the Ag Ed program at TAHS.

The training started at 3:30 PM in the Ag Ed room with an ice breaker.

“I thought it was a very innovative activity and it made us get really comfortable with each other. It prepared us well to discuss and be on a team together,” said senior and chapter vice president Karly Diebold.

Additional activities focused on individual members’ strengths and weaknesses, which resulted in the officers discovering that they had opposite strengths and weaknesses. In a later activity, the team discovered this is what makes for a strong and unique team.

“I was surprised that there were so many similarities between a group and a team but the one thing that did surprise me the most was the way a team is a bunch of leaders aiming at the same goal and working hard to succeed throughout multiple tasks, while a group has a cluster of people that has one leader and one main target with people doing individual tasks,” said sophomore and chapter treasurer Rayann Walls.

Herr enjoyed conducting the training and thought that it was very beneficial for the chapter.

“It was so exciting to watch a group of students become even more passionate about using their strengths to better serve the members around them,” added Herr.

An interactive activity had the team up and moving as they worked on their communication and teamwork skills during the string and ball game.  With the ball balanced on a metal ring with multiple strings attached, the team had to hold the ends of the strings to reach their goal of placing the ball into a basket.  No one could touch the ball after it was placed on the metal ring. The team did have some obstacles and had to restart a few times, but through communication and cooperation, they succeeded.

“It was incredible to see the gears start turning and the team to come together really proud of the ideas that the Tyrone Area FFA Chapter Officers brought to the table. It was a unique experience to learn how much this chapter does and how all members are involved,” said Anderson.