Pictured (L-R) are Colt Calhoun, Peyton Bryce, Ris Bell, and John McGowan. More than 3,200 members, advisors, sponsors and guests attended the 82nd Georgia FFA Convention on April 22- 24, at the Centreplex in Macon, Georgia. Two hundred and sixty local middle and high school FFA chapters from across the state of Georgia were represented at the convention.

The Convention theme was “Lead Out Loud.” The Convention was highlighted by hundreds of award presentations, state competition in Career Development Events (CDE), community service projects, official delegate business, a career show, stellar FFA talent, powerful motivational speakers, and a concert featuring the Eli Young Band.

The convention officially began on Thursday, April 22, with a 60-vendor career show, talent auditions, and interviews for Star and Proficiency Award finalists. Also on Thursday, thousands of FFA members lived up to the fourth line of the FFA motto, “living to serve,” by participating in some form of community service activity. FFA members wrote more than 500 letters to U.S. soldiers thanking them for their service to our country. Additionally, local FFA chapters donated 6,205 pounds of food to the FFA food drive. All proceeds from the food drive were donated to the Middle Georgia Community Food Bank. Three hundred FFA members and advisors participated in a house painting project through the Rebuilding Macon program. FFA members scraped and repainted four houses in Macon on Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday night, at the Convention’s opening session, FFA members had the opportunity to contribute to the Prayers for Chance Fund. Chance Veazey, a University of Georgia baseball player, was paralyzed in an automobile accident this past October, and UGA head baseball coach, David Perno, served as the Convention’s kick- off speakers. Perno and Veazey shared Chance’s powerful story and encouraged FFA members to keep a positive attitude. The FFA members present Led Out Loud by not only showering Veazey with a standing ovation prior to and after his speech, they contributed a total of $1,482 toward Veazey’s Prayers for Chance Fund. Opening night also saw the naming of the Georgia Electric Membership Corporations (EMCs) awards, the recognition of hundreds of individual and corporate FFA sponsors, and the naming of the 2010 Stars Over Georgia. The 2010 Stars included Star Farmer, Kalie Hall of Franklin County; Star in Agribusiness, Heath Holland of Franklin County; Star in Agriculture Placement, Tye Wynn of Colquitt County; and Star in Agriscience, Trevor Correia of Franklin County.

Day two of the Georgia FFA Convention saw the recognition of winners in 32 state Career Development Event (CDE) areas and 45 state proficiency award categories. FFA CDEs are both individual and team events that range from Livestock Evaluation and Forestry to Agricultural Communications and Parliamentary Procedure. The state winners named in Macon will represent Georgia at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis this October. Proficiency awards are given based on a student’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program. Students are expected to develop and maintain their own program outside of class time. SAEs can range from placement at a local hardware store or nursery to raising livestock, owning their own landscaping or honey bee business, or conducting hours of agriscience research. These 45 state proficiency winners will also represent Georgia in Indianapolis.

The first official delegate business session was conducted on Friday afternoon, in the Centreplex arena. Each chapter present selected two students to represent them in official delegate business. The delegates approved a list of 517 FFA members nominated to receive the State FFA Degree in 2010, heard and approved the 2010 Convention Committee report, and voted for members of the 2010- 2011 state FFA officer team.

While delegates conducted business, hundreds of FFA members were competing in the state finals of FFA leadership CDEs that included prepared and extemporaneous public speaking, Discussion Meet, FFA Quiz, Agriculture Sales, and Marketing Plan. FFA members also presented projects in the Woodworking CDE and the state Agriscience Fair. On Friday night, nearly 1,500 FFA members attended the Convention Concert featuring the Eli Young Band.

The final day of the convention began with the most prestigious award available to an FFA member on the state level. More than 500 Georgia FFA members received the coveted State FFA Degree at the fifth Convention session. Following the state FFA degree ceremony, convention delegates handled the second round of official business. Eight bright young leaders were elected to lead the Georgia FFA Association as state officers for 2010-2011. The newly elected officers include president, Spencer Highsmith of Coffee County; secretary, Kalie Hall of Franklin County; and vice presidents, Beth Hickey of Stephens County, Josh Daniel of Oconee County, Kendall Singleton of Upson-Lee, Erica Frost of Johnson County, Kendal Hickox of Ware Magnet and Jessie Sumner of Berrien County.

The convention concluded with the naming of the state leadership CDE winners, recognition of the parents of the 2009-2010 state officer team, and the induction of the 2010-2011 team. A complete list of winners from the Georgia FFA Convention can be found on the State Convention page of the Georgia FFA website http://www. georgiaffa.org.

There are more than 500,000 FFA members nationwide. The Georgia Association has over 29,500 members, making it the 3rd largest Association in the nation. The FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success, through agricultural education.