It's a busy time of the year for the State Officers! Over the past month, our team has presented 19 conferences, been on countless chapter visits, traveled thousands of miles between us, and have started preparing for our biggest event of the year...State FFA Convention! Just a little over two months to go! But a new year brings new activities. Let's go back to the beginning of 2012!...

It is almost every FFA member's dream to be able to attend the National FFA Convention. I went to a small school, so as a member, got the opportunity to attend National Convention four times as a member. This past convention, I found out the experience of going as a State Officer is completely different, and is one that I feel blessed to have been able to take part in. ...

When I became a state officer, I knew that I would get to do many things and go many places I never imagined that I would. However, I did not expect that my journey would take me to the most important city in our nation: Washington D.C.! At the end of July, the State President and I flew halfway across the country for an event called State President's Conference (SPC). ...

(Editor's note: This is the second entry of Kelsey's blog relaying her experiences as Missouri FFA State Secretary. She and the other state officers spent a lot of time this summer in Kaiser, Mo. at the state FFA camp.) For many students, FFA Camp is their favorite activity of the summer, and also became one of mine. FFA camp gave me the opportunity to get to know a lot of members, and also to further develop my leadership skills...

In April of this year, I was blessed with the amazing opportunity to serve for a year as the Missouri FFA State Secretary. I still cannot find the words to describe how much it means to me to be able to represent such a wonderful organization. Over the past four months I have been some amazing places, and met hundreds of FFA members that have shown me how promising the future of agriculture is. Now, I would like to share some of my summer journey with you...