O'Neill FFA Travels To Nation's Capital

Washington D.C. Trip - Breanna Jakubowski, Catrina Spangler, and James McCabe visit the United State's Capital. The members had the opportunity to go into the chambers where the Senate holds debates.

Submitted by Jacob Goldfuss. On Saturday, June 27 Breanna Jakubowski, James McCabe and Catrina Spangler, members of the O'Neill FFA chapter, along with Advisor Krystl Knabe traveled to Washington D.C. for the FFA Washington Leadership Conference. While in Washington D.C. they toured the significant national monuments. Each monument represented a different type of leadership skill, which was addressed within the conference sessions. Ms. Knabe's sessions focused on addressing and teaching global agriculture as well as learning tools available to our students in O'Neill. Students focused on the conference theme "learning your purpose." They discussed topics such as helping others in need, making a positive difference in their community and school, as well as major issues in agriculture globally. Students attended a reflection ceremony to close the evening. Reflections are an opportunity for students to look back on what was addressed that day and how they can implement those skills. Thursday, June 30, students were involved in a "poverty dinner." Each student was assigned social class status for their evening meal. The activity was designed to give students an example of how people eat in various places around the world and what they may need to do to get what little food they have. Students commented on how much of an eye-opener the activity was,making them more grateful of the ease to access of food and shelter in the United States. 

Friday, July 1, students focused on the disasters in the world that we can make a difference in correcting, focusing heavily on the world hunger problem and the food supply. Students commented that they realize that there will always be problems in the world and things that they may not be able to directly effect, but there are things, especially on the local level, that we can make a difference in and can improve for the better living of so many people.

Saturday, July 2, students participated in a community service day with various projects. Catrina spent her time preparing refurbished appliances to be distributed to families in need. Breanna and James participated in a program called Kids Against Hunger. They packaged 20,000 meal sets that will each feed a family of six. The O'Neill FFA members and advisor spent the 4th of July touring the Smithsonian museums and watching the fireworks form the Iwo Jima Memorial overlooking the United States Capital, Washington Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial. They returned to O'Neill early July 5. Reflecting on their trip, members commented that they created close bonds with other members from many states across the United States. They visited about chapter activities, contests, and overall school settings. Catrina Spangler commented, "It was really cool being in our small groups and seeing how alike and different everyone is from different states. We all started fresh with people we met and could be very open with our peers." The members agreed that they all got really close to their roommates over the week. By the last day the goodbyes were the hardest thing of the conference. They look forward to keeping in touch with members they connected with at the conference through Facebook and to continue networking to gaining new ideas for our local chapter.