Iowa FFA kicked off its annual meeting today at the 94th Iowa FFA Leadership Conference at Iowa State University. Students traveled from all over Iowa to attend the meeting and compete against each other in a variety of different contests.

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This included the students of the Vinton- Shellsburg FFA chapter.

Josh Wiley, a member of the Vinton- Shellsburg FFA chapter and a Northeast Iowa District FFA Officer, competed in the prepared public speaking contest where he gave a speech about California’s Proposition 12.

I kind of dive into the breeding pig aspect of it, about how people were unaware of the consequences to follow from adopting proposition 12. About how food efficiency goes down. And then the cost of pork in California will skyrocket. Were everywhere else, it'll go down. So, it kind of creates a black-market effect within the protein industry.

Wiley earned a gold ranking for his speech.

But that wasn’t the only contest the chapter competed in today. Annabelle Newton, also a Northeast Iowa District Officer, competed with her team in parliamentary procedure.

It's all these different rules where you show different abilities in holding a mock meeting, you get to debate and talk about different items of business that would apply to a real-life situation, but then you have to demonstrate your different abilities and putting stuff on putting off motions and everything.

FFA is a family tradition for both Wiley and Newton, which is what inspired them to become members themselves. For Wiley, it was seeing the lasting effects FFA had in his family that made him also want to take advantage of the opportunities the organization offers.

My father was a state officer when he was in his first year of college. So, I really found my passion through all the success that he had, as well as with my older siblings.

Both members hope to use the skills and knowledge they learn in the organization to be better people.

Newtons adds,

FFA has a lot more to offer than just the agriculture side of it. I think the communication and leadership skills that I've developed so far and hope to develop in the future are going to take me a long way as an adult

The Iowa FFA Leadership Conference is going on through Tuesday, April 12.

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