ULC Numero 2!

So I posted last week about our leadership conference in Richfield and now that we're done with our second conference which was held in Salt Lake I'll give you the low down on it! Overall I felt really good about the conference. There were a few glitches, such as our main presentor's wife going into labor the night before so. He had to call in a replacement less than 24 hours before the conference started. We made it through though! It was a bit of a different feel at this one, mainly because of the numbers. There were over 300 people at this one, whereas last weeks was just under 150. The kids were awesome at the Salt Lake ULC so we had a lot of fun. There were a few kids there that I really look up to. They've got their head on straight and I definitely learn a lot from them.
We couldn't have pulled the conference off had it not been for our amazing group leaders. We had 12 come help out and they all did such a great job. We all had to pack up and head out fast as soon as we were cleaned up though because the weather turned a little ugly on us! A lot of the group leaders were heading home for the Christmas holiday going over mountain passes and into the middle of nowhere such as Emery, Altamont and Manila. So we wanted them to get on their way safely.
We came home to quite a bit of snow! Finally, winter decided to show up. December 13th isn't late is it? I'm just glad that we'll have a white Christmas.
I'll eventually get some pictures of ULC up and posted so everyone can see how neat it was!
Happy Holidays!

Utah Leadership Conference #1!

This weekend my state officer team, along with some great presenters and the help of some awesome group leaders put on a leadership conference for 150 FFA members from across the state. We held it in Richfield at the Snow College campus down there. It was a lot of fun! So much preparation went into the conference and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. We had great main presenter from Missouri. Andrew McCrea is a motivational speaker and a past National FFA officer. He was awesome! He really knew how to connect with the members and did some great activities.
Our state's theme this year is "Ignite the Flame, Blaze the Trail" and we followed that as our conference theme. The meaning we want kids to take from it is to find their passion (igniting a flame) and then going somewhere with what they love (blazing their trail) We focused on 5 different flames at the conference. The flame of vision, guidance, brotherhood, leadership, and self-awareness.
Our workshop presenters were so good as well. We had a man from the state office of education come and talk about leadership and he was awesome. My roommate, who was the 07-08 president and our 07 and 08 national officer candidate gave a workshop on taking risks, being bold, and adaptability. Our college of ag senator at Utah State and the 03-04 state vice president gave their's on premier leadership, personal growth, and career success. Another amazing workshop. I really feel like the members got some good things from this conference...I know I did!
There was one very sad thing that happened though... Our awesome president, Blake, has been really sick for the past while (blood in his kidneys that wasn't supposed to be there and a really severe case of strep) and the day before we left the doctors called and told him he needed to go down to the U of U hospital to get some tests done. Apparently he's super contagious and Mr. Evans, our state adviser told him that he was going to have to stay home. It just wasn't the same without him there but we survived. Hopefully he'll be better next weekend when we put on our 2nd leadership conference that's over twice the size, being held in Salt Lake. I'm so excited for next week and hopefully we can even improve on this weekends conference.
P.S...our hotel was...awesome!!! The live-in hotel 'guests' that were our neighbors were rude though, they didn't even invite us to their parking lot barbeque/fiesta!!!
I'll post some pictures soon!

Blogger-Itis

So this is my first blog that is for my own personal enjoyment, not for a class or something, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Two of my sisters keep a blog up fairly regularly and during Thanksgiving a few of my cousins gave me blogger-itis. It's true, I've been hit. I've really started to enjoy reading blogs and have decided to get in the loop. It's a great way to see what everyone's up to and to share a little of what's going on in life. I've also thought that it's a neat way to keep a journal, something that I definitely need to work on.

For those of you who don't know, I'm up at Utah State University majoring in Agricultural Education. I was really active in the National FFA Organization in high school and have since become even more involved. This organization has done a lot for me as far as personal growth and learning a lot of really great leadership skills, and most of all, the people I've met throughout the country because of it has been amazing. I want nothing more than to be able to teach students and members of the FFA at the high school level and help them realize their potential and show them what's available in the FFA. You might wonder what got me involved in an agricultural leadership organization and I guess I'd have to say it's because I love my roots.

My dad and grandpa planted a love for agriculture in me through their example of a love of the land. Although my family hasn't been involved in production agriculture for some years now, I still have that love of wide open spaces and yes, even the smell of cows every now and then. (It reminds me that where I live is beautiful and decently far enough away from Salt Lake) I love going back to the farm that my dad grew up on and later farmed with my mom in Alberta. It's truly beautiful in it's own way on the prarie, and I'll definitely always have a love for that area.