Seeing the Leaders at SLLC

As a former FFA member who did not attend every conference available, I now know that I truly missed out on great experiences that the FFA has to offer. This past weekend I attended the State Legislative Leadership Conference (SLLC) in Hershey with my FFA chapter. I was blown away with the content of the conference. SLLC enabled students to not only learn about the legislative process, but they dove into the process by taking on roles within the legislature and fight for the issues they felt strongly about. As a result, students were not just learning about the process, they were utilizing it. On top of playing the part of being at state legislature, students were able to meet and greet their state representative and state senator. For my chapter, this was awesome because we were able to ask questions that will affect agriculture in the local community. I was impressed with the many and deeply thought out questions that were brought up by the students for the legislative members. Not only was I impressed but I could feel that the representatives were enjoying the highly thought out questions the students were posing.

SAE Proficiency Judging

The planning of SLLC was fairly simple, yet complex. I registered my students through PA FFA and everything was taken care of during the conference. However, after the conference I was able to plan events for the rest of the day. I had planned to take the students the Army Heritage Museum to see how the military has changed over time. The school days leading up to the conference were frustrating because I would ask the students where they would like to eat and visit. Not a very smart idea on my part. The students wanted something interesting yet low cost (Army Heritage) and they were not sure where they would like to eat.

On our way to SLLC, we stopped at Red Robin after talking with students about where they would like to go. The meal went smoothly and we continued on our way. However, I was unsure what Tuesday would hold with the students undecided where they would like to eat. During SLLC I was concerned with Tuesday and had a plan to eat before heading to the Army Heritage Museum. However, I changed my plan Tuesday morning when the students seemed to not be hungry after the visit to the Capitol Building. As a result, I decided to go to the Army Heritage Museum and eat after. Here is where I went wrong. I though the students were hungry after asking them if they would like to eat. What really happened is that the students were tired from the night before which hid their hunger from them. This made them grumpy and miserable to work with. Both of my cooperating teachers spoke with me while we were at the Museum to coach me on reading the signs that I had missed. Another issue that I ran into is that I did not know where would be a good place to eat in the area. I am very unfamiliar with Carlisle and what it has to offer. This limited me on what I could give as options to my students who were hungry. As a result, my teachers stepped in and recommended a place to eat.

One of the things I learned through this adventure is that you have to be prepared for anything and everything. I “knew” where the Army Heritage Museum was after passing it multiple times, however, I was asked to give my cooperating teacher directions when we left the Capitol and I did not have a map to go by. I was able to get them close, but not dead on…..as a result….failed. I believe that the trip went well all together, but I need to improve on having everything ready at a moment’s notice.