Even if you're not going to watch your son or daughter get an award, odds are you know someone who will be at the Indiana FFA Convention at Purdue University next week. The convention officially begins Tuesday, June 18, and concludes on Thursday, June 20.
That's different from the past several conventions, which began Monday evening and concluded on Wednesday afternoon. Indiana FFA Association director Steve Hickey says they've revamped the contest and convention schedule to make it possible for more teams to compete in statewide contests, and hopefully for more people to attend.
Monday is now devoted to a number of career development events, many of them team contests that were previously held at another time or in another part of the state. Both of those factors limited participation.
Amongst the contests moved to Monday are the ag sales team contest and the ag mechanics contest. Officials note participation is up so high in the ag mechanics contest that they have revamped the schedule a second time to accommodate the teams. There are no area or district elimination rounds on the contests taking place on Monday.
Contests normally held on Monday in the past will now be held on Tuesday, with parliamentary procedure and a few remaining contests held on Wednesday morning, after the official convention begins.
Selection of State FFA officers is not affected. Some 16 candidates will begin going through the selection process, with nine adults and students as the nominating committee, starting Friday evening, June 14 and continuing through Sunday evening. The finalists will not be announced until Wednesday evening after the Hoosier Degree session. The election of FFA officers will be on Thursday afternoon.
If you have interest in attending the convention or learning more about your local chapter's involvement, contact your local ag educators.