Amelia Hayden, Big Foot FFA, was elected to serve as Wisconsin’s state FFA president for 2018-19 at the conclusion of the 89th Wisconsin FFA Convention. Hayden served as a vice president on the 2017-18 state FFA officer team. The 17-year-old graduated from Big Foot High School in 2017 and will be a freshman this fall at University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in microbiology. She is the daughter of Edward and Claire Hayden of Sharon. She succeeds Ciera Ballmer, Clinton FFA, who was the 2017-18 state FFA president.

The convention was held June 11-14 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. The theme of the convention was “Live Your Why.”

New officers
A new state officer was elected from each of the state’s 10 sections. Following are the newly elected officers for 2018-19 and some information about each of them:

• Alexis Kwak, 16, vice president, is a member of the Prairie Farm FFA Chapter from Section 1. Kwak is a freshman at UW-Madison, where she is majoring in animal science. She is the daughter of Thomas and Tricia Kwak of Prairie Farm.

• Paige Nelson, 20, is a member of the Ellsworth FFA Chapter from Section 2. Nelson is a junior at UW-River Falls, where she is majoring in ag education. Her parents are Tracy Mitchell and Marc Nelson.

• Collin Weltzien, is a member of Arcadia FFA from Section 3. Weltzien is the son of Keith and Karen Weltzien of Glencoe.

• Amber Patterson, 20, is a member of River Ridge FFA Chapter from Section 4. She is a junior at UW-River Falls, where she is majoring in ag education. She is the daughter of Dennis and Denice Patterson of Bloomington.

• Gaelan Combs, 18, is a member of the Verona FFA Chapter from Section 5. He will be a freshman at UW-Madison this fall, where he is majoring in dairy science. Combs was the runner-up in the state prepared speaking contest. He is the son of Dave and Sherry Combs of Verona.

• Ashley Hagenow, 18, is a member of the Rio FFA Chapter from Section 6. She will be a freshman this fall at University of Minnesota, where she plans to major in agricultural communications and marketing. Hagenow was the runner-up in the state extemporaneous speaking contest this year and last year. Her parents are Bob and Lisa Hagenow of Rio.

• Jillian Tyler, 18, is a member of the Granton FFA Chapter from Section 7. Tyler will be a freshman at UW-River Falls this fall, where she plans to major in ag education. She is the daughter of David and Karen Tyler of Granton.

• Mitchell Schroepfer, 19, is a member of the Antigo FFA Chapter from Section 8. Schroepfer is a sophomore at UW-Madison, where he is majoring in biosystems engineering. He is the son of David and Jolynne Schroepfer of Antigo.

• Sarah Calaway is a member of the Denmark FFA Chapter from Section 9. She is a sophomore at UW-River Falls, where she is majoring in ag education. Calaway is the daughter of John and Lori Calaway of Denmark.

• Emily Kruse is a member of the Elkhorn FFA Chapter from Section 10. She is a sophomore at UW-River Falls, where she is majoring in ag education. Kruse is the daughter of David and Amy Kruse of Elkhorn.

Each state officer will meet thousands of FFA members and will travel more than 10,000 miles during the next year. They will attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October, and will meet leaders in government, education, business and agriculture.