University of Idaho Agricultural Education, Leadership, and Communications

In honor of the 90th National FFA Convention taking place right now in Indianapolis, Indiana, this week the AEE Department is throwing it back to the last National Officer from Idaho, Seth Pratt! Seth served as the 2011-2012 Western Region Vice President. The AEE Department is also sending the best of luck to Idaho's National Officer Candidate, Gretchen Hansten! Gretchen has advanced to the final round of the national officer selection process. Make sure you watch Saturday during the final general session to see the final results and cheer Gretchen on!

CFFA Members stopped at the Columbus Zoo on their way to Indianapolis National FFA Convention week is here! Every year faculty from the department of Agricultural and Extension Education aid in the facilitation of three national Career Development Events, and this year eight members of Collegiate FFA are joining these professors in Indianapolis, helping to coordinate the Parliamentary Procedure, Prepared Public Speaking, and Agriscience Fair contests.  We also wish the best of luck to Gretchen Hansten who is serving as Idaho FFA’s National Officer Candidate and has worked hard to pursue her dream of serving as a National FFA Officer. Seventeen students from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will be receiving their American FFA degrees on Saturday. University of Idaho's Collegiate FFA is proud to serve at National Convention and help make learning opportunities available for FFA members all over the country!

By Ben Meyer, National FFA's Local Program Successs Team Specialist for the western region With the 90 th  National FFA Convention and Expo right around the corner, here are a few tips for a great week in the Circle City of Indianapolis!   Recommendations for ag educators: 1.       Be sure to complete the online registration process found at  www.ffa.org  before arriving in Indianapolis.  After receiving the registration confirmation email, then be sure to link student names to each registration purchased.  Doing this online before arriving in Indianapolis will save at least 45 minutes of waiting in registration lines. 2.       If a chapter is bringing a competitive team/individual for CDE/LDE participation, be sure to download and print the “2017 Event Information” letter found on the homepage of each CDE/LDE.  The most current information about each event i...

 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: int...