Eight members of the Tyrone FFA and their adviser were among the 69,500 FFA members, advisers and guests from across the United States who attended the 91st Annual National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana from October 24-27.

While attending the convention students engaged in competition, career fair, business and industry tours, leadership workshops, and convention sessions.

Garin Hoy, Karly Diebold, Alyssa Luciano, Grace Peterson, Brandon Sprankle, Andrew Minnich, Colin Jackson, and Whisper Breon represented the Tyrone Area FFA chapter.  

Their journey began on October 23 as they joined a charter bus with an additional eight chapters from the Harrisburg Area. On the way to the convention they stopped in Dayton, OH for a two hour tour of the Dayton Caterpillar plant.  

“By incorporating these business tours throughout the trip we are able to expose the students to what companies are looking for in employees.  The plant was very focused on safety and employee input from solutions to current issues and forward thinking before a problem even arises. They want thinkers and doers; and really want youth who have great work ethic,” said Tiffany Hoy, Tyrone Area FFA Adviser.

On Wednesday, Garin Hoy and Karly Diebold competed in the Premier National Chapter Award competition which the chapter was selected as the top 10 in the Building Communities category.

The entire group then attended the opening session that evening and headed to the special Garth Brooks concert at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Thursday brought about a flurry of activities as the members attended professional development workshops on leadership, communication, service learning, and career opportunities.

During the afternoon session, Tyrone FFA members Andrew Minnich and Alyssa Luciano received the National 3-Star spur for the chapter to add to their yearly National Chapter Award plaque.  3-Stars are the highest recognition a chapter can receive for this award.

“I enjoyed being able to visit the multiple different colleges who would personally talk to me about my future interests and possible majors that are offered,” said Karly Diebold.

Friday was another day of workshops, career fair visits and professional development.  In the afternoon the charter bus loaded up and headed to a honey bee farm. There participants learned about the honey bee industry and were able to bottle their own honey bottles.

“I will forever carry these moments with me. The National FFA Convention was a great experience and it increased my knowledge on agriculture. I really enjoyed the Caterpillar plant because of its foundation over all. They really understood how they affected agriculture as a whole, and that meant a lot to me. I enjoyed the workshops and interacting with people all over the country,” said Alyssa Luciano.