Florida FFA Alumni and Supporters Leadership Development Conference

This August, we joined the Florida FFA Alumni leaders at the Leadership Camp run by the FFA near Haines City, FL. Like always, it was better than a family reunion!

Each affiliate was recognized, as were the officers and the FFA state officers. We were reminded of who we are as FFA Alumni and our purpose. We were reminded of Florida’s FFA Alumni mission and motto. State Alumni president, Doug Register reminded us of who we are, what we do, and who can be members. (It is good to keep reminded of who we are and what we represent.)

The new state FFA Advisor, Amy McAllister was introduced to us. She is an energetic young woman who is up to the task ahead of her. It is so good to see younger people at Alumni functions. Another young teacher/advisor, Farrah Johnson, and the president of her local alumni, Tony Thigpen, presented both sides of the FFA/FFA Alumni coin. They were a prime example of how the two organizations work together.

We were excited to have Amber Smyer from the national staff with us for the weekend. She enlightened us on national FFA Alumni goals, and introduced the “Connect Program”. She also introduced the Ag Career Network to us. Great things are coming down the pike for FFA Alumni!


We learned a fun new ice breaker; each person was given a piece of candy and told NOT to eat it. We were then divided into groups according to the candy we had. The entire group had to discover three things everyone in the group had in common. They ranged from everyone loving Ag Education to no one in one group had ever been in jail. It was designed to show that everyone has something in common with everyone else if we will just take time to discover it.

An excellent presentation was given by former Ag teacher, Delbert Redditt, offering words of wisdom that to motivate, one must be great. It reminded us that as leaders we have to keep the membership motivated.

Dr. Jim Dyer, from the University of Florida, brought the Ag Ed message with some outstanding statistics.

Sorrel Fields spoke about the Florida Baptist Children’s Home and gave examples of how we as individuals can impact the children they serve using our agricultural knowledge.

Wow! What a jam packed weekend! So much to learn and too little time; sure am glad we have national convention to look forward to so we can learn even more about helping America’s future leaders in agriculture to be the best they can.

Johnny & Mona Jones