Urbana FFA chapter attends National Washington Leadership Conference

This was the first time since 2018 that Urbana FFA has attended the Washington Leadership Conference (WLC). Students that attended were Sam Wilhelm (Urbana FFA President), Bryce Stambaugh (Urbana FFA Vice President), Brooklyn Randall (Urbana FFA Reporter), and Lauren Stollings (Urbana FFA Sentinel). On July 9 at 4:30 pm members arrived. ¨WLC inspires FFA members to become changemakers in their communities. Each day of the conference focuses on a different principle taught through the context of our nation’s capital. These principles include exploration, encouragement, advocacy, and service. At the end of the week, members leave with a Living to Serve Plan they can implement in their communities¨ (National FFA Website).

Throughout the week there were many large group and community group sessions. On each day there was a different theme. Tuesday was “Be a Changemaker,” Wednesday was “Me,” Thursday was “We,” Friday was “Do,” and Saturday was “Serve.” Each day the only thing that stayed the same was the motto “to do what we can, with what we have, where we are.¨ Each person there created an LTS plan. This plan is what you take back home with you to help better your community.

Chapters were given free time one afternoon. During this time our chapter met U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan and took a tour of the Capitol building. On the last day, all 300 participants worked together in the program called “Meals of Hope” where over 65,000 meals were packaged for the food insecure.

Respectfully submitted,

Brooklyn Randall

Urbana FFA Reporter