Nine Tyrone Area FFA Chapter members attended the FFA Fall Leadership Conference at the Blair County Convention Center in Altoona on October 5th. Over 500 people from chapters all over Pennsylvania attended. This conference was hosted by the Pennsylvania state FFA officers and gives chapter members a chance to work with and learn from others and make friends.

“The Fall Leadership Conference was an amazing event to help us kick start our year in office and help first-year members kick off their blue jacket journey. This conference works with each officer to help us grow and understand why leadership in our position is highly important. We had small group sessions and focused on what makes your qualities of leadership and how you view the term differently than the rest of the team,” said Tyrone FFA Chapter President Rayann Walls.

Seven of the nine attendees from Tyrone were the chapter’s officers and the other two were first-year students.

The Fall Leadership Conference was hosted by the Pennsylvania state officers and Pennstate’s Teach Ag students.

The conference helps officers understand their duties and first-year students understand what FFA is about. The officers and first-year students were split up into rooms with their corresponding stations. Members went over what makes a good officer, and how to help your chapter grow. The first-year students learned the importance of the official dress, the three key components of FFA, and many other things.

“The conference was a great opportunity for me to learn more of the basics after a year where covid shut down travel. This was only my second chance to attend a state meeting. It also gave me a chance to learn more about the Pennsylvania FFA team,” said sophomore Maverick Fleck, the chapter’s sentinel, and a first-year student.

After everyone went to their sessions they got lunch that was provided for them. Everyone then joined up into a big room and split into random groups to learn about teamwork. The conference was to teach the officers and first-year students about their responsibilities and working as a team.

Junior Leo Veit, the chapter’s vice president said, “the conference was a great success in helping the officers and other members get a better meaning of what it means to be in FFA, and also meeting friends along the way.”