(Who are WE ?!) ...SPC!

The week of July 21-25, I had the honor to represent the Minnesota FFA Association with Katie and Mrs. Addington at the 2009 State Presidents' Conference in Washington D.C.

Here, each association was allowed to send two state officers to represent at the conference where national delegate issues would be voted on and committees would be prepared for National Convention. The national officer team, executive secretary Mr. Brown and the owl himself, the national advisor, Mr. Case joined us for the conference.

We had the opportunity to meet with outstanding leaders in the agricultural industry including the newly apppointed Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Tom Vilsack. Katie and I also met some of the folks who represent Minnesota in D.C including the Chair of the House Ag Committee, Mr. Collin Peterson and Congresswoman, Michelle Bachman.

When we visited Bachman, we showed up extra early, and twittled our thumbs! While waiting, we were told that Bachman was currently in the Capital building, voting on the floor. Bummer, we con't see her. Then one of her representatives said they would help us out and actually take us to the Capital and near the voting floor to chat with her. SWEET!

(You see we had tried before to get into the Capital, but discovered you had to be VIP or have some tickets.) ... yeah we didn't have any. :(

Luckily, we were rushed through the Capital and just down, and outside the voting room, what you may recognize as the place where the president gives his State of the Union address. We met with Bachman and got a cool photo.

Besides the Capital, we toured many other historical buildings and places including : the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington Cemetary, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theatre, Washington Monument, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception,World War II Memorial and FDR Memorial.

(Not to mention: an ample amount of large, gigantic muscular/godly/naked statues)... I think they modeled most of the muscular ones after me, they just forgot to put the OD on them.

We weren't there just to sight-see and take crazy tourist pictures!

We were there with serious business and intent of voting on the issues for delegation at National Convention and creating the committees.

This year's committees will include topics about global engagement, alumni programs, the New Horizons magazine, program affiliation, post-secondary opportunities, expanding membership and being inclusive. I am excited to work with the Global Engagement Committee and was elected to serve as the committee secretary at National Convention.

Meeting the officers from the different associations, including my friends from New York, Kansas, South Dakota, Oregon, North Dakota, California, Idaho, Georgia, Tennessee and Nebraska was great. We spent may hours comparing accents and playing the coolest game to cross the FFA world :Ninja. (Don't worry, you shall learn soon)

Walking through the DC area, and traveling on the Metro was great because of all of the people I met that were curious about, "the blue jackets?" I met a young woman, Germaine from Cameroon in Africa. She had one of the most inspiring stories, shared while on the Metro. She told me of how she lost her father at a young age, and the struggles of her family and the oppression she faced from her government. Germaine came to the United States in hopes of going to school to be a medical doctor. With only pennies in her pocket and dreams in her heart, Germaine spent her first years working to fund her education and studying to learn the English language, which all of her classes were taught in. Her passion to serve others and endless scholarly atitude paid off this past year as she recieved a full ride scholarship to one of the top medical schools in the country, John Hopkins. It was so inspiring to see the dreams of others come alive. I have always heard about the "American Dream", but I have never experienced it like this.

I also had a great time just getting to be with and travel with my teammate and friend Katie. I had fun times on the Metro, trying to make perfect timing with "jump" pictures and sitting down and getting to know her better. I can't wait until we meet again, and look forward to further building our friendship! :)