ILSSO 2010 - CHINA

My teammates and I have had a very exciting 2010 so far. We returned from China on Friday, January 15th. This blog is a recap of our 12 day journey from home to San Francisco and then to China for a 10 day international experience in agriculture.
Adam Herwig, State FFA Treasurer, and I flew to San Francisco from Chicago on January 3rd. Once there we met up with Amie Burke, State FFA President, Caroline Bremer, State FFA Vice President, and Kiersten Kasey, State FFA Secretary, 5 National FFA Staff Members, and 41 other state officers from 16 different states. The following day we attended an orientation meeting where we were briefed on Chinese agriculture before we prepared to board our plane on the 5th.
Our flight from San Francisco was just over 12 hours in length. When we landed in Beijing we began to adjust to the 14 hour time difference. After a dinner with our tour guides, we visited Beijing’s night food market where many brave souls ate interesting creatures such as snakes, scorpions, and grasshoppers!
After resting up and recovering from jet lag, we woke up the next morning to experience the coldest weather Beijing has ever seen – it felt just like home! On our first full day in China, we visited the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City before eating our first meal with chopsticks. After lunch, we went to the American Embassy where we learned more about our foreign relations with China. We then drove an hour out of the city to a cattle farm that is owned by the Fuhua Meat Company Ltd. They process 80,000 head of cattle and about 200,000 head of sheep per year and employ 1,800 Chinese citizens. They own several beef hot pot restaurants across China where we dined  after visiting the farm.
Friday, the 8th, we began the day at the Xianfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market which sells vegetables, fruits, and meat products. We visited the pork and lamb markets and soon realized their food safety regulations are not up to our standards by any means! This was a big moment for our group; we realized how fortunate we are here in America! Next, we toured the greenhouses and grounds of a 100 acre research flower farm which specializes in tropical plants. After lunch, we headed to a dairy farm that housed over 2,500 cows. We were able to visit their milking parlor and dairy processing line. We ended the day at a facility that does research, development, promotion, and processing of soybeans – this felt a little more like home for me.
Our last day in Beijing was one of the highlights of our entire trip to China. We began the day at the Cloisonne factory where we saw employees hand painting their famous products. Next, we made our way to the Great Wall of China! This was my absolute favorite part of the entire trip. Words cannot even describe how astounding the Great Wall was. To actually stand at the bottom of the wall and imagine how it was built and the amount of history at that very spot was simply amazing. It was much steeper than I had imagined and the steps were very irregular. It seems as though China was a good spot for the 2008 Summer Olympics since athletes could have trained on the challenging Great Wall! I was very excited that while we were in Beijing we had the opportunity to visit the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium and the Water Cube where Michael Phelps won eight Olympic gold medals! After a tiring day, we boarded an overnight train to the ancient city of Xian.
After arriving in Xian on the 10th, we met our new tour guides and visited the Terracotta Warrior factory and then the actual site of the Terracotta Warriors. It was as though our history books came to life! On our first evening in Xian, we rode tandem bicycles on the Ancient Xian City Wall and enjoyed the Tang Dynasty Show.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

December was a busy month at the Illinois FFA Center!

My teammates and I attended the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual meeting the first weekend of December and had a wonderful time in Chicago! As members of the Youth Education Committee we served as flag bearers at the opening session. We also had the opportunity to be "yippers" at the live auction to benefit Illinois Ag in the Classroom. This was especially fun although my teammates say I sounded like an angry cocker spaniel!

On the twelth of December we attended the State Agronomy and Dairy Foods CDEs at the University of Illinois. It was really fun to be able to catch up with members at the event. We also enjoyed taste testing the cheeses and trying our hand at the Dairy Foods CDE.

On the 18th and 19th of December...

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November... back in the office...

With November came a month full of meetings and office work!

The top ten things I did in November were...

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Section 15 Chapter Visits

After an awesome but exhausting week at National FFA Convention; Nathan and I geared up for the Section 15 Chapter Visits and Leadership Training School.

We started the week off with a little field work on Sunday night which I really enjoyed. It's been quite strange for me this fall since I haven't been able to help with harvest at home.

I had a great week filled with chapter visits, awesome people, and hillarious moments.

I had the opportunity to be involved in some very interesting occurances throughout the week. We visited Henry's Rabbit Ranch where we learned all about rabbits and their personalities. I also was priviliged enough to watch 3 scary movies during the week. Thank's to Nathan my scary movie count as reached 6! I met some buffalo along the road, and also visited Broom orchard! As if that wasn't great enough we also ate ice cream every day!

On Tuesday night the Section 15 Officer Team hosted an awesome leadership training school....

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LEAD OUT LOUD - 82nd National FFA Convention!

National FFA Convention was an absolute blast for the five majors and the ten section president delegate! National Convention started with a pre-convention meeting at the FFA Center where delegates were briefed on all of their responsibilities for the week, followed by the National Delegate Day of Service. On Tuesday, all 15 delegates began work in their delegate sessions to pass the various issues that they were assigned to, as well as working to pass the constitutional amendments that we presented at convention. After the conclusion of the business, the delegates were able to enjoy the awesome sessions, speakers and events at Convention. Keynotes from Mike Rowe and Josh Sundquist, and the Toby Keith concert were favorites among the officers.

My favorite part of National FFA Convention was by far the National Day of Service! I spent time with state....

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Adventures of Section 6 Chapter Visits

The Section 6 officer team and I started our week of chapter visits off with a trip to the pumpkin patch and fall festival. It was quite the adventure, we all felt like kids again. While there we took a tour of the greenhouses, rode the pumpkin train, sampled pumpkin and cider donuts, found our way through a corn maze, and last but not least we picked out the perfect pumpkins. It was quite the day! By the end of the evening there were several jack-o-lanterns sitting on the porch at Bronwyn's house!

We started visits the next morning with some caramel corn and ski! Each day was pretty eventful as we traveled around Section 6! We saw some pretty awesome schools, had a little trouble finding some parking spaces (right girls?), and also ate lunch at some great restraunts - like State Street Pizza!

 

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Section 10 Chapter Visits!

Section 10 certainly was quite the experience!

We kicked the week off by opening a case of ski, caramel corn from Mama Carley, and pretzal mix from Mama Kregal. While driving around the section I was accompanied by a wonderful section officer team consisting of Cory, Calvin, Clayton, Corey, Lauren, and Wes. There was definately never a dull moment!

Throughout the week I had many experiences that I will never forget! On Monday morning Cory and I loaded pigs at 4:30 AM before heading out on chapter visits for the day. It was a pleasure to end each day on the top of the Carely Farms Inc. grain elevator leg. From atop the leg we could see the entire surrounding area and Indiana. It was nice to drink some hot chocolate and look at the stars!

I also enjoyed a movie night in the Cissna Park ag room and a evening of capture the flag with the section 10 officer team. I believe the game turned into a game of tackle the state officer, however, fun was had by all. I certainly enjoyed the chance to wear my carharts and spend some time outdoors!

As if the week wasn't already fun enough; we ended the week by staying in a mansion! It was an amzing experience! We watched a movie in the in home movie theater, I beat Clayton in a game of pool, and also took a tour of the amazing house.

On a more business note... The section 10 officers held an awesome Leadership Training School and did a wonderful job on the chapter visits.

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Section 18 Chapter Visits

The ten most interesting things I saw/did in Section 18...

1. a wooden bridge with no sides

2. a mountain of ski soda

3. a "caution: golf carts" sign

4. a huge Amish grown pumpkin

5. I climbed a grain bin in my Official Dress

6. I visited Kiersten Kasey's parents at work after the Paris FFA Chapter Visit.

7. I went to "Paris" and "Jamaica" - all in the same week! I am quite the traveler!

8. attended the Section 17 Leadership Training School

9. gave a greenhand workshop and keynote address at the Section 20 Leadership Training School

10. traveled to all the section 18 schools and had a blast meeting all of the FFA members at Leadership Training School!

It was a fun week in Section 18!

 

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Section 22 Chapter Visits!

Chapter Vists - Adventures of FFA members!

I started my first week of Chapter Visits down in Section 22 with Miss Rosemary Chapple, the Section 22 President!

Throughout the week we made a lot of memories while traveling around to schools in the section. I had the opportunity to tour Waterloo's brand new high school and also have my picture taken on their new football field.

Throughout the week I learned a lot! Rosemary taught me how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano and also how to play the acordian. I am not a very musically talented person, however, I did enjoy learning!

I also toured Valmeyer's "fish factory" and was quite impressed with the vast number of fish! Throughout the week I had a lot of fun visiting with members, presenting, and also meeting Advisors in the section.

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The beginning of a busy fall!

School is back in session and for the major state officers that means it's time to get down to business.

The past couple of weeks have been extremeley busy for our team!

On September 1st, 2nd, and 3rd we helped with the Titan Tire sale at the Farm Progress Show. This was my first time at the show and I was quite impressed with the elaborate displays!

After the show was over I headed home for the weekend to pass down the Warren County Prime Beef Festival Princess title. This was a very busy weekend; followed by another busy week!

Adam, Caroline, and I headed South on Tuesday the 8th of September to prepare for the District 5 STAR Conference. We spent the day with Section officers in District 5 and enjoyed a wonderful presentation where the officers sang their mission statements. After the STAR Conference came the premier event - Reporter's Workshop!

After preparing for weeks, I finally was ready to present my first reporter workshop. It was a success and I really enjoyed meeting some new FFA members in the South. During the workshop students learned how to communicate clearly, interview properly, write press releases, and take good pictures.

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