FFA Day @ the Dome!

July 12, 2009

As much as I would like to claim that I enjoyed the FINAL Minnesota FFA Day at the Dome, I didn't. You see I, and the rest of the team, ( how ever you say that grammatically correct) , were not able to go to the game because we needed to be up at Deep Portage for SLCCL. We did get to go to the pre-game festivities including a silent auction, and a delicious meal that was, in my book, a grand slam. I can still smell that delicious pork.... mmmmmmm.

Day @ the Dome was also a great day to reunite with those I have met throughout the summer. As I was handing out some rally-rags for the game with Crystal, Kirsten, Phillip and Katie, we met fellow FFA members from New Ulm, Plainview-Elgin-Millville, New London-Spicer, Dassel-Cokato, Martin County West and Fulda to name a few. Some of which, had attended SGLC, and some wre planning on going up north to Deep Portage for SLCCL tomorrow! We also met fellow state officers from North Dakota and Wisconsin as well as FFA members from South Dakota. What a haul!

I took the time to enjoy my meal with Minnesota FFA Alumni President Greg Gosen and his son Nick. We reminisced showing livestock, FFA conferences, frustrations with rain and baling hay over an ice-cream bar.

Well, it's that time. Got to go. Kirsten and I took the light rail back to my car and made our way up to Deep Portage. A trip I will NEVER forget.

Twins win 13-7 over the White Sox !!!

Thank you so much to our outstanding support from the Minnesota FFA Alumni, Foundation, Val Aarsvold and all of our sponsors and partners!

State Greenhand Leadership Conference 2009!

What: State Greenhand Leadership Conference

Where: Deep Portage, near Hackensack, MN

When: June 22-26

Who: over 147 MN FFA members ! (and numerous guests)

This was one incredible week! Members, primarily sophomores, represented the chapters all across the state. From Alden-Conger to Zumbrota-Mazeppa, over 147 members came! For many, this was their very first state ffa event, and for some their first FFA event. I had the fun of sharing the first-time-experience with all campers because I had never attended SGLC when I was in FFA because I wasn't in it! SGLC was definately a week full of firsts for me as you will read. I am glad I got to share it with this group.

As the week began, I was a little skeptical on the weather raining in on our traditional volleyball tournament. Without fail, it did rain. A LOT! Thankfully, the sun was quick to forgive the rain because it was hot, humid and clear enough to go canoeing, swimming, hiking up the tower and play sand volleyball (all of which I did !)

I did not bring my fishing pole, just to save some for those who wanted to catch some. ;) Swimming at Deep Portage is a top priority for me, so Emily and I joined Donnie from Staples in the cool water. BUT, I forgot my sandals, which is required to swim in the lake! Springfield native, Zach was awesome enough to let me wear his, and so Emily, Donnie and myself took an afternoon dip.

Before coming to SGLC, I had never gone canoeing either. So Marten and Douglas from New London-Spicer, Alex from Long Prairie-Grey Eagle and Kyle from the Martin County West FFA Chapters took me out on the water. I learned,

A. There is a front and a back to a canoe (It always just looked the same to me.)

B. There is no seat in the middle so you get very wet from the water on the bottom.

C. Dont try to lean over and catch fish
D. DO NOT TRY TO STAND UP AND TURN AROUND, AFTER ALL , YOU ARE IN A FLIMSY, HOLLOW PIECE OF PLASTIC IN WATER.

Canoeing was fun!
If I wasn't make a fool of my self on the water, I was probably eating sand on the volleyball court or flailing in the air at the rock wall.

Firstly, to clear the air on the "flailing", I was climbing the toughest wall blindfolded, and obviously if you are blidfolded, you can't see when you lose grip of the wall and you are now suspended by a rope in mid air searching for a hand hold or the wall! So for those of you who happened to appear during my triumphant moment, that's why... AND I made it! I wasn't the only one...

Matt from the Stewartville FFA Chapter and Dan from Medford FFA Chapter were like Spiderman on the rock walls. When I first made the wall summit, I told Matt and he said, "oh yeah, me too ...blindfolded."

Rock climbing was a blast, and thank you to all who were there to cheer everyone else on!

For Bob Barker (my small group, and the best), the volleyball tournament wasn't so victorious. I ate a lot of sand and while Courtney from Montevideo and Mag from the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead FFA Chapters saved my butt with some intense vball skillz. As much as I we would have loved to (figuratively speaking), spay and nueter the opposing team, (meaning defeat), we lost 21-10... :(

As always, here are some fun things and facts I learned about the awesome SGLC "contestants" :

Beau from the Mountain Lake FFA Chapter, is a beast on the volleyball court.(period)

Shawna from the Goodhue FFA Chapter, was one of the top Creed Speakers in the State at this past Convention. She even shared her talent with everyone at the Banquet. Congrats!

Megan from the Medford FFA Chapter, loves to take pictures and is always willing to risk boldly and try new things. (THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS !)

Travis from the Owatonna FFA Chapter, was the FIRST person to arrive at SGLC and I was honored to welcome him and carry his guitar. He also performed at the talent show and I hope to see his talent again at the State Fair on the Christensen Farms Stage!

Aryel from the Buffalo Lake-Hector FFA Chapter, is one of the most outgoing people I met at SGLC. I found out she was among the culprits of BLH at State Convention who pulled the ," you dropped your pocket/ socks are untied" joke on me whenever I walked by. Thankfully, it wasn't her. Aryel is a lot of fun to be around and I could always count on an answer from her.

William from the HLWW FFA Chapter, has waaaay to much free time considering he memorized and performed the "Element Song" as seen on You tube, at the Talent show. I probably laughed the most during his talent. props to you!

Heather from the Hayfield FFA Chapter, has similar aspirations to myself in the fact that she wants to become a large animal veterinarian! Sooooo cool.

Jacob from the Tracy Area FFA Chapter, was quite the entertainer during the Banquet Skits which simply mock and copy the state officers. His stands out the most to me, because he was me and the awesome peach christmas sweater I wore for morning news. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning!

Brooke from the Zumbrota-Mazeppa FFA Chapter, loves sheep too! Even though she does not show Polypays, I can still forgive her and look forward to seeing her at the State FFA Sheep Show!

Travis from the Ulen Hiterdahl FFA Chapter , along with his camp Ag Sales team gave the most memorable and intersting sale I have ever witnessed. I still crack up thinking about it...

I distinctly remember, even before I was a state officer, when I was talking with past president Derek and past reporter Sydney. They reminded me that there will be certain times in the year when you just want to quit; you are in over your head; you are stressed; things just don't work out and you want to be done. They also reminded me that there will be times when you are on cloud nine; everything rocks; you never want the day to end.

I will admit, there was a time during SGLC when I just wanted to quit because I wasn't satisfied with how I was presenting and other things that primarily revolved around me. Even though I may have had a bad day, that isn't nearly enough to outweigh one of the best weeks I have ever had in my life. Thank you so much to each and every single member who came to SGLC. Thank you for letting me get to know you, and give true meaning and purpose of my service as a Minnesota State Officer. The people I met, friends I made, cabin chats, canoeing, watermelon feed, banquet skits, reflections, jokes, tears on the last day, games and laughter surpass anything that may have tried to make me question my service. I am proud to serve the state of Minnesota, especially knowing the outstanding members I met at SGLC .

I can confidently say that I believe in a future of agriculture due to the talent, passion, leadership that I saw present and develop with in each and every 147 Minnesota FFA members present!

I believe, because I see that you believe.

As promised, I am proud to announce the 2009-2010 Minnesota FFA Theme...

iBelieve

Ever since our organization was founded, the words ,"I Believe" have resounded because of the word power E.M Tiffany placed in the 5 paragraphs we recognize as the FFA Creed. Today, American agriculture is so different and diverse in comparision to what is was over 80 years ago, during the beginnings of the FFA, as we aspire to become tomorrow's: ag teachers, biotechnologists, veterinarians, dog breeders, natural resource officers, agronomists, engineers, florists, electricians, landscapers and politicians. FFA is not just for "farm kids" anymore. The National Organization is 500,000 members strong rooted in the belief of a future of agriculure; the belief of service and humility; and the belief in the power of leadership.

Here are some draft graphics to give you an idea of what we are thinking !

A final big thank you goes out to our 2009 SGLC sponsors : Alliance Pipeline, CHS, Northland Ford Dealers and the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. Thank you for your support, especially for the cool T-shirts!

NLCSO 2009... Going Live !

It has, for sure, been a LONG TIME since I have had the opportunity to sit down and type ! What a busy past two weeks. But, enough of my jabber, here are my thoughts on the 2009 National Leadership Conference for State Officers !

I left my house @ 2:30 and met with the gang: Mike, Katie, Emily, Crystal, Labecca and the awesome Addington family in Worthington, Minnesota to begin our adventure to Aurora, Nebraska! We arrived in Aurora at 11:00 that night, so it was a long trip, but don't worry each minute was filled with an extremely competitive game of My Cows!
... I was up to 7,607 until I was blindsighted by Emily as she yelled, "Kill Kirby's cows!"

* still contemplating our friendship...

Rest in Peace my cows.... rest in peace.

Nonetheless, the week was spent at The Leadership Center outside of Aurora. http://www.tlcaurora.org/
Nebraska is so lucky to have a facility like that with a 13ft pool, water volleyball, basketball court, ponds for paddleboats, sand volleyball courts, cabins, hotel-style rooms (we got those), and a cooking staff that still makes my mouth water. (the food, not the staff)

State Officers from Kansas, Nebraska and our western neighbors, South Dakota joined the Minnesota team. We weren't just 'there' by ourselves, we were joined by two outstanding National Officers: the Eastern Region Vice-President, Hannah Crossen and the National Secretary, Nessie Early. From my experience with the two for the week, they exceeded my expectations of what it means to be a National Officer and taught me a lot about how to be an effective team member and officer.
Here are some fun things I learned from my friends at NLCSO:

Garrett the State President from Kansas, was one of my room-mates for the week along with Zach and Mike. He qualified for the National Extemporaneous Public Speaking Contest this fall at National Convention ! It was cool to find someone else who shared my passion for speaking on the fly like Garrett and also attended the Washington Leadership Conference.

Dani from Nebraska, shares my same desire to work on an international level with agriculture and teach people new ways to raise their livestock and crops for sustainibility. ( It was a cool moment )

Chelsea from South Dakota, is the most extreme 4-wheeler/dirt-bike rider I have ever met. Her scar story definately tops the puny one on my arm.

Hannah from Ohio, was hoping for a tornado during our week. ... Her wish did come true, and we spent a good 45 mintues in a Conference Room huddled together under a table waiting and hoping and praying for the best. At first I thought it was a joke, or not too serious, so I began doign the "twist", in tribute to the twister. Then things got serious as we were told of the location and direction of the storm, towards Aurora. Covering our heads, we prayed. (This was my FAVORITE memory for the week because it showed how united we were, although from many different backgrounds, that night. Someone just started praying, and everyone joined in. Powerful.) Thankfully, we were all safe from the 1/4 mile wide tornado that ripped through a house, trees and damaged an Iams Food warehouse, but no one was hurt. :)

Sydney from Nebraska, is one of the funniest people I have met and I can't think of a better story teller than her. Sydney would like to become a medical doctor.

Amanda from Nebraska, is a beast on the basketball court. Playing a game of two-on-two with her against Garrett and Zach was to my advantage because she dominated. I can proudly say we one, but it is more like she won.

Brady the State President from South Dakota, is a genuine gentleman and a great guy. I have met few people like Brady that care so much about others, and agriculture.

Nessie from California, is short, sweet and a fan of the Cal Poly team that beat my home town college, SMSU at the NCAA Elite Eight. BOOO! . I remember her from the Minnesota State Convention and how she just sat down with my Crops Team and talked. Nessie is a great leader and example, and she is a part of the motivating force for me to asipre for more beyond state level leadership.

Zach from Kansas, is crazy fun. I honestly felt like it was "friend at first sight" because of the similarities I have with Zach and his enthusiasm. He will be competing at National Convention in the Horse Evaluation CDE, and knows a lot about H2O.

Hannah from Kansas is, just like me, a proud Roman Catholic! Watch out 2009 delegation, because she plans on having an Elephant proficiency award area opened up. Hannah is a lot of fun, and knows how to have fun.

Katie the State President from Nebraska, is a true team player. She shares my love of speech and is memorable, in my book, for her reflection on building.

The time I had this week with the Minnesota Team was definately worthwhile as we worked on finalizing workshops for the State Greenhand Leadership Conference (the next week), made vision and mission statements for or chapter visits in Region I & II, survived a tornado, killed each others cows and (Drum roll please... ) decided the theme for the 2009-2010 year!

Minnesota FFA members, I am proud to announce this years theme is...

...on the next blog!

A big thank you goes out to our NLCSO sponsors: The Monsanto Company, ADM Company, John Deere, Land O' Lakes, Wrangler and The Mosaic Company.

Special thank yous to the representatives from Monsanto and Mosaic for their presentation, and to Wrangler for their donation of a pair of pants!

Timberland Leadership Camp !

Week #1 SUMMER !

What: Timberland Leadership Camp

Location: Sibley State Park: New London, MN

Date: June 1-3, 2009


What a relief it was to leave the high paced MNRER and find my way to the relaxing Sibley State Park, the traditional host of the Timberland Leadership Camp for the Marshall, Tracy and Sleepy Eye FFA Chapters. This was my second year, and it was a tough contest to tell which year was better, but I do know that I met some great FFA members and had a blast myself! I was enthusiastic to know that I would also be joined by my fellow teammates Emily, Crystal and your 2009 MN National Officer Candidate, Katie Zenk, to share the experience and help facilitate activities. This was our very FIRST time presenting and working with students since our election in April, so it was a good time to fine tune our skills and recognize where we can grow. I had the privilege to sit by campfire and listen to the beautiful voice of Kayla from the Tracy FFA Chapter, and roast some delicious marshmallows with Aileen from the Sleepy Eye Chapter. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t quite surpass the quality of Scott, the winner of the “Best Marshmallow Award”, from Sleepy Eye. The single most rewarding experience from camp was watching the openness of campers to get to know each other and create friendships and memories. Here are some awesome, random and fun things I learned from campers:


Brandon from Tracy, or as we call him ‘Schroeder’, has an art of drawing penguins!

Michael from Sleepy Eye is a speed demon in the 300 hurdles and loves gum drop towers!

Tony from Sleepy Eye aspires to become a veterinarian or a teacher. Oh yeah!

Alaina and Sam from Marshall are fearless as they dominated the Ropes Course at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center!

Emily from Sauk Centre gave life to the words, “Oh Yeah”, and made Kool-Aid consumption even more enjoyable.

Nate from Sleepy Eye is a dedicated runner, and even took me out for a run before 6:00 am!

Meghan from Marshall may be scared of heights, but she definitely has the guts to put on a frozen t-shirt for her team! (I could not do that …)

Crystal from Howard Lake has a singing voice that you cannot even begin to describe.

Katie from BOLD has given me advice that I will forever have on the inside of my FFA jacket.

We learned what it means to be an FFA member, took on a CDE challenge, set goals and defined our vision for life, challenged ourselves on the ‘Ropes Course’ as well as learning valuable and fun lessons in teamwork. (Thank You, Michelle, for finding the final tennis ball! ) The Banquet Officer Team did an excellent job on running a smooth banquet and handing out appropriate awards for each member present. I had the pleasure of escorting Aileen to the Banquet and she helped me discover how to cut our pork chops with a plastic spoon! After banquet, Mark, Scott and Nate got an “Extreme Make-Over: FACE EDITION” for their talent act I will never forget. What a great way to begin my service as a State Officer, with the members!

I miss everyone at camp, but I don't miss the catepillars, and can’t wait to see ya’ll again!

Your 2009-2010 Minnesota FFA State Officers are...

State Sentinel: Mike Sheely, Southland FFA

State Reporter: Labecca Johnson, Winona FFA

State Treasurer: Crystal Jones, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted FFA

State Secretary: Emily Achen, Sauk Centre FFA

State Vice-President: Katie Miron, Forest Lake FFA

State President: Kirby Schmidt, Marshall FFA

We are ALL extremely humbled and excited to be elected to such
offices to represent and serve the membership of the Minnesota FFA Association!

On a personal note, aside from State Officer, the 80th Minnesota FFA Convention was a rewarding time. I am so proud of the successes of each chapter and member present at the convention through their Career Development Events, Supervised Agricultural Experiences, National Chapter Award, Servive contributions and attitude to truly "Experience the Leagacy" of Minnesota FFA and Agricultural Education.

I was honored to place 3rd as an individual and team in the Crops CDE with my home chapter of Marshall, along with Shane, Justin and Ian. We had so much fun practicing together and creating our own interesting study methods (that only we would understand) to guide us to a rewarding experience of the competition.

Thank You to the Monsanto Company for their sponsorship of our awards!

Please enjoy the awesome photography of Matt Addington from the 80th Convention at the following link:

http://mattaddington.smugmug.com/gallery/8063934_6t9MT#525316790_ZszxW

ENJOY!

... if you missed the excitement, here it is on YouTube !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7RBXLWLXFQ

Finally!

Our State Officer team is officially on the web, for your access, in BLOG form!
I am incredibly excited to keep you all posted on and answer your question of,

What's going on with that FFA guy, Kirby ?

I realize that I have been to a number of events prior to this date, but don't worry because I have been taking note and reflection of my time being mindful to share!

* Note, the whole Blog thing is new, foreign language to me, so I am still fine tuning how I can work with it.*

Week #1 SUMMER !

What: AURI- Minnesota Renewable Energy Roundtable

Location: Mankato, Minnesota

Date: June 1, 2009

My very first week of summer, just the day after I graduated from Marshall Senior High School, I found myself back in gear with State Officer busyness and fun! Monday, I spent my day at the Minnesota Renewable Energy Roundtable hosted at Minnesota State University, Mankato and sponsored by AURI, (Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.)

The MN Renewable Energy Roundtable works to ensure 1) that the State of Minnesota is a recognized leader in renewable energy knowledge, application, and utilization. And 2) to create an implementation platform for moving short and long-term strategic action forward for Minnesotans and its Roundtable Partners.

It was an interesting and enlightening day as I met with those people who have interest and influence in our State’s direction of renewable energy. I was proud to be the only student present among those present! Meeting with members from the ( take a deep breath ) …Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Windustry, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Commerce, MnSCU System, Russell Herder, Minnesota Conservation Corps, Coon Rapids Energy/Environment Demonstration (CREED), College Deans as well as former FFA members to summarize the diversity of those present! Mr.Sawatzke, my faithful Marshall Chapter advisor, and I broke out with a group of representatives from many of the ‘names’ listed above and discussed what we would like to see happen or change in Minnesota. Some exciting and interesting ideas were presented such as creating a “Career Pathway” designed specifically for renewable energy based jobs, like wind and solar power.

I expressed my own ideas on the promotion of renewable energy in the classroom and increased curriculum and courses for High School students. Ultimately, it would be cool to even have a wind turbine or other form of technology on campus for students to interact and learn about! Acknowledging the growing popularity and relevance of “green” collar jobs, we discussed the potential of having our very own Minnesota FFA State CDE based on Renewable Energy! Oh, and we had some delicious food too!

Thank You AURI for making this event possible !

...if you had the money to do whatever you wanted, what aspect of renewable energy would you invest in ?