Twelve from Mountain Lake FFA attend 51st confab
By Madison Dahna, Mountain Lake FFA Chapter member
Twelve students from the Mountain Lake FFA Chapter traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the 51st Annual National FFA Convention. Those students attending the 2017 confab were Madison Dahna, Caitlyn Johnson, Victoria Hofmann, Morgan Peitsch, Paton Buller, Josiah Gardiner, Junior Louangsaphakdy, Saige Wall, Emilee Xayanourom, Christina Hofmann, Kayla Vonk and Aleesha Jepsen. Advisors are Lindsey Brockberg, Stephen Funk and Hayley Faber.
The chapter had one member participating in the National FFA Chorus (Josiah Gardiner) and one student participating in the Talent Competition (Junior Louangsaphakdy).
Gardiner left for Indianapolis on Saturday, October 21 in order begin memorizing songs, and begin practicing with the choir. He had to send in an audition tape and was one of four out of approximately 15 Minnesota applicants making it into the National FFA Chorus. Students spent long hours preparing for their shows, as well as tried to experience a little of convention events.
The remainder of the group headed for Indiana at 9 p.m. on Monday night, October 23, driving through the net in order to get Louangsaphakdy to the Talent Competition auditions on time. Louangsaphakdy ended in the top 15 nationally with his beatboxing talents. To get to nationals, Junior sent in an audition and was selected out of a 116 applicants. He went through the first round on Tuesday, which allowed him into the top 15 and the opportunity to perform before 20,000 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Although he did not make it into the final three, he had amazing performances all during convention.
After dropping off Junior, the group went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where they were able to tour the museum, ride a bus on the track – and kiss the bricks. Not Just Popcorn was the well-flavored stop after the Speedway. At the store, the students took a tour and learned about the different steps in making the different popcorn flavors – and most importantly, to taste a few of the 400 different flavors. The final tour of the day was to Hunter’s Honey Farm, where students learned about the process of collecting honey, got to bottle their own honey and were able to see the different products that derive from honey.
The second day had the students hopping on the bus the go to the FFA Shopping Mall, where they saw the huge FFA Store, along with other vendors. The National Convention opened that afternoon and the students began to look around at all of the college displays, and the different businesses booths. Later that day, the group attended the Opening Session, where they heard Laila Ali, Mohammed Ali’s daughter, talk about her life story and inspiration to begin boxing. They also heard from the Mayor of Indianapolis, the National FFA Advisor and many other people in leadership. After leaving the session, the group went to Lucas Oil Stadium where they heard the band, Runaway June, and the Headliner, Rascal Flatts.
On the third day, students stopped by a local POET biorefinery, where they toured the plant, and learned about all of the products that come out of POET plants. The students returned to the convention to attend the Second General session, where they heard Regional President Valerie Early of Minnesota give her retiring address.
On their final day in Indianapolis, the chapter members took a last look around the Shopping Mall and Career Fair. The group then walked to a local restaurant called Harry and Izzy’s, where they had a meal together as a chapter. The crew then left to watch the Band and Chorus Concert in which Gardiner participated, as well as the final round of the Talent Competition. The group then loaded up and headed toward home.
The group had a great time sharing a bus with a few other chapters, including Heron Lake-Okabena, Windom and Westbrook-Walnut Grove.
