(By Atlantic FFA reporter Lily Johnson) – Officials with the Atlantic FFA report 11 members of the FFA traveled to Ankeny on Dec. 2^nd, to attend the Ignite and Amplify FFA Leadership Conference. FFA members from all over the State attended the event which taught them about leadership and student development. Those in attendance from the Atlantic Chapter of the FFA included: Addison Freund; Claire Schroeder;, Maddy Anderson; Mia Kloewer; Braden Wood; Lauren Comes; Keston Schmidt; Frank Freund; Collin Harris; Lily Willrich; Claire Comes, and Addalyn Sonntag.

The IGNITE Conference focused on the Endless Opportunities in agriculture and the FFA, including: Careers in Agriculture What’s Behind Door number1, and Discovering FFA Opportunities. The next workshop was Fuel Up! Managing Emotional Fuel Tanks. Common Ground workshop was learning Diversity & Similarity Among FFA Members. Next is Pay It Forward learning how Servant Leadership and Service Planning can help our community and finally, Follow the Leader: Leading with Integrity.

IGNITE Conference team: Front Row Left to right Front to back Front Row Braiden Wood, Frank Freund, Claire Schroder, Maddy Anderson, Mia Klever
Back Row Keston Schmidt, Lauren Comes, Addison Freund,

The AMPLIFY Conference focused on student development. This year the conference focused on Purpose: Connect. Care. Create. Establishing a purpose as a daily practice and draft a leader purpose statement. Discovering how people are connected to purpose and identify their talents. Members also learned to discover what it means to live to serve as a leader and examine methods for serving others while pursuing purpose, all while Identifying the value in practicing practical self-care as a leader and discovering the difference between living with purpose and completing action items.

To wrap up the conference, each member drafted a personal purpose team and identified how to live out a purpose plan at home.

Amplify Conference members: Collin Harris, Lily Willrich, Addalynn Sonntag and Claire Comes

FFA Advisor Eric Miller said, “These conferences are important to help develop the kind of leaders that we need in our school and community. I am glad the Iowa FFA provides us with the opportunity and the students are so willing to give their time to become better leaders.”