FFA members from all around the country flooded Indianapolis for the 97th National FFA Convention and Exposition on Oct. 23 through 26. The organization is focused mainly on agriculture and leadership. Club members traveled to Indianapolis to compete among the thousands of participants present. In the Agricultural Communications Career Development Event (CDE), the club reigned victorious as fourth in the nation out of teams from 39 other states.

“It’s just kind of hard to gauge how you do compared to other people,” senior team member Ellie Taylor said.“Honestly, we were pretty surprised how well we did.”

The team scored their top five placement by submitting a team communication plan and each member of the team’s individual practicum. These individual practicums consisted of social media posts, a news story, a magazine layout and a broadcast production.

“I think some of us came into it with a lot of background on our individual practicums,” Taylor said. “It made us really well prepared and allowed us to focus on the team plan and bring in aspects of our skill set to that.”

The impact of FFA on students stretches farther than just the day of contest. “FFA is important because  it helps develop skills such as public speaking, it helps you learn about the field of agriculture, and helps to build character values,” said sophomore team member Liam Kenyon. “I participate in [FFA] because I personally want to be in vet science, and this is a perfect ground for me to do that.”

FFA’s influence does not only allow for positive change in the people involved, but all those around them.

“It provided a lot of community for students,” Taylor said. “As well as ways to help give back to the community.”