Collegiate FFA at National Convention

 By Maggie Elliot

University of Idaho’s department of Agricultural and Extension Education led an important role at the National FFA Convention and Expo. Faculty assisted with the Agriscience Fair, Prepared Public Speaking, and Parliamentary Procedure CDE, of which nine Collegiate FFA members helped to facilitate. Very few universities offer Agricultural Education students the opportunity to facilitate CDE’s on a national level.

Members ran scorecards, took notes, recorded time, and graded minutes, but perhaps the most valuable aspect of working at the convention was examining the interactions between advisors and students in the competitive environment.

“Experiential Learning is a cornerstone of what we expect of our teachers and by using this experience to develop our teachers, they become witness to its effectiveness.” Said Assistant Professor Dr. Jeremy Falk. “Our students conduct daily reflections as a group and their insights are above par, including: interactions between students and teachers; the level of organization needed to prepare students to compete on a national stage; and the importance of FFA in preparing future agriculturists.”

“We were surrounded by hundreds of ag advisors who were coordinating thousands of FFA members, all applying a vast spectrum of coaching methods.” Said CFFA member Bret Kindall, who used the experience to enhance his insight of techniques used by instructors to prepare students for the premier contests. “As an FFA advisor, I want to instill a work ethic, a drive to succeed, within students without sacrificing a friendly atmosphere for students to enjoy. I spent the week observing different techniques and identifying the factors that would shape my desired relationship with future students.”

Undergraduate research conducted by agricultural education majors Bret Kindall and Erin Peek used the National FFA Convention as a resource to gain data by distributing surveys to teams involved in the Floriculture, Agronomy, Ag Sales, Ag Mechanics, Vet Science, and Poultry Evaluation CDEs in order to identify coaching behaviors and their relation to successful teams.

“It was a unique opportunity to work behind the scenes of National FFA. Many students have attended as FFA students and will attend in the future as ag teachers or guests, but there is only a limited period of time in which you can attend and facilitate a National CDE.” Said Bret Kindall.