Leigh FFA Helps with Alumni Convention
The Nebraska FFA Alumni and Supporters Convention was held on Friday, January 19th and Saturday, January 20th in the Columbus area. During this convention, 179 registered alumni members and supporters of the FFA toured different agri-businesses and industries in the local area. The location of the Nebraska FFA Alumni and Supporters Convention moves each year with some of the previous locations being Hastings, Norfolk, and West Point.
On Friday, January 19th group tours took place at Pillen Family Farms, Big Iron Auctions, and Sidump’r. The Leigh FFA chapter was asked to help greet people at Pillen Family Farms and Big Iron Auction tours. However, due to weather and school for Leigh members being canceled, the four Leigh FFA officers were unable to be greeters at the tours.
On Saturday, January 20th Leigh FFA members and officers made their way to Christ Lutheran Church, just north of Columbus, to help greet alumni members and serve the noon meal and presentation by Holsteins Unlimited before the convention attendees traveled to Went Show Goats and Rustic Lux Designs for the afternoon tours. The Leigh and Humphrey FFA members were asked to help serve this meal.
That night, alumni members and supporters all made their way to the Columbus American Legion for the final event of the convention: the Annual Banquet. The Annual Banquet included a silent auction, three live auctions spread throughout the night, a meal, desert auction, awards presentations, and many guest speakers.
All of the funds raised from the banquet auctions went back to the FFA Alumni association to help support future Agriculture Education teachers and current FFA members except for the desert auction. The money that was raised from the desert auction will be split four ways between the Humphrey, Lakeview, Leigh, and Osceola FFA chapters for all of their help with the convention. The Lakeview and Leigh FFA Chapters helped to set the tables, serve the meal, and clean up the tables afterwards while getting to converse with Alumni members and Supporters.
Jill Goedken, President of the Nebraska FFA Alumni and Supporters Association, said, “This year's conference was a huge success. Despite bitter cold temperatures and blizzard conditions on the days leading up to the convention, attendance was good and all of the planned activities were enjoyed by all. The agri-business tours were obviously the highlight of the conference. The presenters on the tours made for an educational experience for the group. The fund-raising auctions were a huge success, raising record-breaking results all due to the generosity of the supporters of FFA that were in attendance.”
Goedeken continued, “The Nebraska FFA Alumni & Supporters Council is so grateful to all of the FFA members who took time out of their busy schedules to help with the meals and tours. Seeing everyone in action was an inspiration to us and confirmed in us that the future of agriculture in Nebraska is indeed bright. I would personally like to thank the planning committee of Alyssa Went, Leigh FFA Advisor; Kaydie Brandl, Lakeview FFA Advisor; Shelly Nielsen Schmidt, President of the Lakeview FFA Alumni & Supporters; and Jenny Meyer and Rachel Tagge of the Nebraska FFA Alumni & Supporters Council. These wonderful volunteers spent numerous hours in the planning for the success of this conference.”
Brianne Kuhr, Leigh FFA Vice President, said, “It was really great to see so many FFA Alumni attend the convention. I enjoyed listening to many speakers at the convention, and I am so glad our chapter was able to help put this convention together. It allowed for our chapter to not only have bonding time together, but it also gave us the opportunity to learn from previous FFA members.”