Northeast Iowa FFA Officers Reflect On Year In Office
Tonight, the 2022-23 Iowa FFA State officers will be announced as the current state officers close the door to their officer journey.
This past year, Northeast Iowa was well represented by not only the Northeast Vice President but the President as well.
Mia Gibson has served Iowa FFA as a Northeast Iowa District officer, State Secretary, and State President. She says that this year, the officer team was able to go out more like they did pre-pandemic.
I think we reached over 150 chapters this year. So that's really exciting, just getting to meet members. And it's really fun to be here at in Ames back in Hilton, we haven't been here for three years, to kind of just like show off all of our hard work and celebrate it this week.
One thing that Avery Hanaway, the 2021-22 Northeast Vice President took away from her year in office is her connections with others.
It's kind of unrealistic how small of a world that is. I didn't realize how many people I actually know from other places- but remembering those connections that I've already made and furthering them over the year has been super good.
Hanaway’s favorite memory in her position was when she did a chapter visit with New Hampton FFA.
Their members broke our record for a human table. They stayed up for 25 minutes. It was really impressive. The atmosphere in that room was super exciting and it just really showed the passion that they had.
While for Gibson, hers was going to the State Fair as officers.
We just got to see all the members that were showing and exhibiting other things there and be a grandstand usher at the State Fair for a couple of days because I did that when I was a member and I love that experience.
And for the next president, Gibson says to do as much as possible.
Never say no, you only have one year it'll go by fast. Really, really fast. Two years for me have gone by tremendously fast. So just make it make the most out of your situation.
Hanaway adds that you should also remember to be yourself.
The members elected you for a reason. And I think that if you just be yourself and are you show the members that you're authentic, and you're just down to earth, you'll have a really good year.
Both Gibson and Hanaway plan to continue their education to become ag educators.