By Kennedy DeBoer
Eighteen students traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana for the 91st FFA National Convention and Expo. Students left Tuesday, October 24 at midnight from a Walmart parking lot in Lincoln, Nebraska on a charter bus. We traveled all night and arrived in Indianapolis around 1:30 Wednesday afternoon.
As a chapter we attended the opening session Wednesday night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse where the Indiana Pacers play basketball. Kyle Scheele was the keynote speaker for that session. He gave a very inspiring message about leadership.
On Thursday, we got to start the day by going to the Indianapolis Speedway. We took a lap around the track and then got to “kiss the bricks” at the finish line. After we took the lap around the track we got to go into the museum and look at old cars and trophies. After that, we went downtown to eat. There is a food court in the mall and many different restaurants in walking distance in the area. We ended the night by attending the Nebraska only FFA Dance in the hotel.
We started our Friday off by going to the FFA Convention Store and Expo. Members got to look at FFA gear that they could purchase and talk to different companies who gave away free things. Also, we watched FFA Creed and Parliamentary Procedure finals. That night we ended by going out to eat and then going to another session and listening to a keynote speaker. We also had the Nebraska dance at our hotel with the other Nebraska FFA Chapters.
Saturday morning, we went to Lucas Oil Stadium, and watched Carson Bohlmeyer get presented his American FFA Degree. Fairbury FFA had four other members receive their American FFA Degrees but were not able to attend. Those members were Blake Bauer, Tyler Heidemann, Trevin Likens, and Patrick Ondrak. We drove all day, arriving in Fairbury around 11:30 pm. All in all, we had a great trip to Indianapolis and a great learning opportunity for all of the members who went.
