BY BRAYDIN LABORE / WSHS JOURNALIUSM STUDENT
Seven members of the Wessington Springs High School FFA Chapter went to Indianapolis, Indiana last week for the annual National FFA contest from October 25 through October 28. The members included Austin Schimke, Cayden Radcliff, Carson Hainy, Braydin LaBore, Kirstie Munsen, Raylee Fagerhaug, Avery Orth and their adviser Brady Duxbury.
On the way to Indiana, the group stopped to tour Linz Meat Packing plant in Chicago, Illinois. Before the tour, they donned white coats and got an up close look at how the plant cut, cleaned, packed, stored and shipped meat. Upon completing the tour, the group from Springs continued to Indianapolis for the convention, arriving that evening.
Over the next few days, the FFA students participated in a wide variety of activities. The opening session at Lucas Oil stadium featured music, an introduction of the FFA officers and keynote speaker Tamika Catchings. Catchings was a WNBA Basketball player who also has a speech impediment and is deaf. Kirstie Munsen weighed in on the presentation given by Catchings: “I personally enjoyed listening to Tamika. I am a huge basketball fan, and she is one of the all-time greats. She talked about her life difficulties since she was deaf and had a speech impediment, which made her message about being bold so much better.”
After the first session, the students were left to wander the Indiana Convention Center which provided things to experience including shopping, welding, fishing, shooting a pellet gun and plenty of college representatives.
The students ended the actionpacked day with a concert featuring country music artists Mickey Guyton and Russell Dickerson — a highlight for the group from Wessington Springs.
“I thought the concert was great,” said FFA member Austin Schimke. “I loved how they showed up to perform just for the FFA.”
The second day’s session was mostly about thanking sponsors and farmers, and after the session, the group went to visit the FFA headquarters. There they got a great understanding of the history of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) and NFA (New Farmers of America) and how the two merged together to form the National FFA organization of today. Finally, they went to a rodeo at the Indiana state fairgrounds which had some very good bronc and bareback riding as well as bull riding.
On their way home, the members had a long car ride in which they got to stop at the I-80 gas station to explore. They also had their last meal before arriving home and thanking Mr. Duxbury for the opportunity to go on the trip. When asked about the event and his plans for coming years, Duxbury shared, “The trip went well. Students had lots of fun and had a lot to do while there. National FFA is an experience every student should have, and I would like to take more students in the many years to come.”
