Ernest Ilarde, Illinois FFA Section 8 treasurer, and Colin King, Illinois FFA Section 8 vice president, assisted a local chapter.
The phrase “Living to Serve” wears many hats in the National FFA Organization. Whether that be through the countless members making an impact in their community through their Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs), or the advisors investing in student success. As FFA members, we recognize that we all must dedicate ourselves to strengthening our communities in the best way possible.
One of the best examples of this service is the many student officers who devote themselves to leadership — building, guiding and inspiring others to drive the success of our organization forward.
Developing Leadership Skills
This past September, the Illinois Association FFA Section 8 Officer Team facilitated the JumpSTART Leadership Conference to provide Illinois FFA leaders the opportunity to build togetherness and effectively plan for future events. The officer team was joined by several of their chapters for a day filled with workshops, advice from educators and a meeting dedicated to developing their strategic chapter plans. The event allowed chapter teams to receive guidance from the Section 8 team and improve their leadership skills to execute well-developed events for the year.
They were also joined by Illinois 4-H Extension Educator Whitney Baldwin from Cook County. Baldwin supported the Section 8 team in her contribution to workshops. One of these workshops included an activity to assist in developing critical thinking skills. FFA members worked together to pick items from a bag needed for “survival” in a hypothetical event. The bag symbolized the need for unity and a wide range of ideas to have a successful team.
Illinois FFA Section 8 President Kaden Ambers then held other workshops with chapters. Explaining what he finds essential to hold a productive meeting, he also detailed how members can contribute to team discussions, create meeting agendas, and delegate tasks among members. The rest of the team provided tips to chapter officers on what they find best to organize meetings.
“Each chapter is so different and is capable of amazing things; they can take inspiration from others and make an event their own,” said Janay Bussell, Illinois FFA Section 8 reporter.
She summarized one of the primary expectations of this event — to recognize the creative ideas of each chapter and unite them.
Illinois FFA Section 8 Officer Team pictured with Wilco FFA.
Service Connection
Overall, this conference allowed members to work together and spark not only their interests but also their leadership, connections, and futures. Through building all these qualities and teaching others, we can all learn to better serve not only our local communities but our organization as a whole.
