Eleven Tyrone Area FFA members and advisor Tiffany Hoy traveled to the  87th National FFA Convention and Expo in Louisville, KY on October 29- November 1st.

This was Tyrone’s first trip to the national convention in three years.

“I was amazed by all of the blue and gold jackets,” said Senior Kaitland Lynch, “It was empowering that so many students shared the same iconic jacket and I truly learned how it unifies us – no matter what State or Chapter is listed on the back.  We are truly one youth organization, who has the same beliefs and values.”

This was a trip of a life time for Tyrone Area FFA members Heidi Walls, Kaitland Lynch, Mitchell Myers, Hunter Confer, Tristan Day, Sarah Wilson, Brandon Decker, Katrina Hagenbuch, Baylee DelBaggio, Maddie Veit, and Charles Beard.

The Tyrone students were among the 64,409 FFA members and registered guests attended the annual gathering. Attendance was a record high for the event.

“I cannot even help my students to understand the magnitude of this convention. I can only encourage them to get involved, meet as many people as possible, and go all out during their trip,” said Hoy.

When asked what their favorite part of the trip was, Beard said, “I cannot imaging going through life without hands or feet, but showed us that we define ourselves, not others and we should accept ourselves for who we are and what we do with our lives.”

In Louisville the students met FFA members from all 50 states and two trust territories.  Juniors Hunter Confer and Brandon Decker took it upon themselves to meet and get signatures from members from every state and territory represented at the conference.

FFA members also attended a concert by country artists’ Justin Moore and Easton Corbin and joined other Pennsylvania Chapters on a paddle boat dinner cruise. The week ended with a trip to the bowling alley where the students met Texas FFA members who had never seen snow before when it snowed in Louisville.

The trip was made possible by generous donations from Warrior’s Mark Fencing, Eagle Towing and Recovery, C. Beard Oil, Dr. Galvin of Tyrone, Imler’s Poultry, Brush Mountain Shoe, LLC, DelGrosso’s, New Pig Corp and friends and supporters of Tyrone Area FFA.

The National FFA Organization is a national youth organization of 610,240 student members as part of 7,665 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

News, features, sights and sounds from the 87th National FFA Convention & Expo are archived and accessible on FFA.org.

The convention is in the second year of a three-year stint with Louisville as the host city. It will move to Indianapolis in 2016.