October 19 2023 - Each year southwest district and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the southwest district. Atlantic High School welcomed FFA chapters from all over the southwest district on October 18, 2023. The Greene County FFA chapter sent six students to represent the chapter at this conference: Mason Lehman, Kaliyah Minnehan, Maggie Reed, Wyatt Babcock, Autumn Barrett, and Chase Fecher along with their FFA advisor, Raelyn Harris.
While at Atlantic High School on Wednesday, district and state officers lead four interactive workshops for first year high school FFA members, also known as Greenhands, for the annual Greenhand Fire Up Conference. The workshops facilitated were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students.
Iowa FFA President, Holly Schmitt, stated, “Greenhand Fire Up provides a chance for first-year high school members to get a sneak peek of the opportunities that FFA holds, and is a conference for members to meet and interact with state and district officers.”
The officers prepared and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond.
Greenhand Fire Up is made possible with support from the Iowa FFA Foundation.