On September 11th, FFA officers and new members (freshmen and sophomores) went on a New Member Retreat to learn more about FFA and to start new relationships with peers and new incoming students. Students went on an overnight trip to the FFA camp in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. On this trip, students played games, went on a scavenger hunt, hung out, attended workshops, and practiced team building. The purpose of this retreat was for new members to meet each other and officers and to learn more about FFA.

Senior President of FFA, Alexis Ayers, went into high school knowing she wanted to be an FFA officer because her older sister was an officer when she was in high school. During the retreat, Ayers said one of her favorite parts of the trip was meeting the new members because, “We get so many people that go on trips that are just the same every single time, so it was really cool and really refreshing to meet a bunch of new people and have new input.” Ayers enjoyed teaching a workshop and having a leadership role on the retreat because she wanted to be an agriculture teacher, and this experience was good practice for her. She led a workshop about the FFA official dress/uniform at the retreat. She even wore her own official FFA uniform while teaching her workshop to display her pride for FFA.

New members of FFA  invited to the retreat were asked what their favorite part(s) of the trip was and what they learned in the workshops they attended. Freshman student, MaKayla Eleson, answered, “Meeting new people and gaining new friendships.” Lily Porter stated that she enjoyed, “The games we did for team building and building relationships.” Ethan Barnes highlighted moments from the FFA retreat as getting to play games and meeting all the new members. All members said they learned that FFA is more than just soil and animals, “ it is about growing as a person and developing your skills, but you get to do it in a different kind of learning that is fun” stated proudly by Makayla Eleson.

All new members on the FFA retreat overall had a great experience building relationships and learning more about agriculture and what FFA is all about. Many students were inspired by senior officers to set goals for themselves to become officers someday!