(Article by Atlantic FFA Reporter  Aspen Niklasen) – Each year, the Southwest District and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the Southwest District. The workshops were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students These workshops are geared toward engaging members into FFA as the year kicks up. Atlantic welcomed 29 FFA chapters and 247 from all over the Southwest District on Wednesday, October 13th.

Atlantic FFA member Dylan Comes and Atlantic FFA Alumni member Tyler Comes helped facilitate the event. Dylan, the Southwest State Treasurer for the Iowa FFA Association, helped with other officers prepare 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. Comes said “It was great to see all of the younger members interacting with each other from a facilitators point of view.”

Front Row left to right: Mackenzie Brown, Charli Goff, Rylie Vandevanter, Aubrey Graham, Claire Schoder, Lilly Johnson, Mia, Kloewer, Lola Comes
Back Row left to right
Hudson Goff, DJ Shepperd, Daniel Freund, Parker Brock, Jace Mcintryre, Wyatt Simons, Keegan Kemp, Josie Handlos. (Photo submitted)

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. 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. Rylie Vandvanter, a member from the Atlantic chapter that attended the event, said that “I had a lot of fun and met several new people.” Lola Comes said, “The Greenhand Fireup Camp gave me the opportunity to meet new people from other chapters, learn leadership skills, and increase my knowledge about FFA. This camp helped push me out of my comfort zone.”