The end of October lends itself to Indianapolis once again hosting the 55,000-plus National FFA members and guests from across the country. Although this convention came with a unique set of circumstances, just like any modern-day large event, the Van-Far FFA members and advisors were able to represent our chapter well on a national level. 

 The members of the state winning meats evaluation and technology team, Ennis Childs, Cayden Caldwell, Devyn Keller, and Hunter Scrogin represented the Van-Far FFA chapter and the Missouri FFA association during their national competition during the convention. The National FFA meats evaluation and technology CDE is a competitive event that tests students' skills and competencies in evaluating and identifying meat carcasses and products. Event components include a general knowledge exam, beef carcass evaluation, identification of wholesale and retail cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, quality and yield grading of beef carcasses, and a team meat merchandising event.

Each team has competed on the local and state levels to earn the privilege of representing their state at the National FFA Convention and Expo. This event, held at the Land O'Lakes Center, Inc. for experiential learning at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., is one of the many educational activities that chapter members present at the National FFA Convention and Expo were able to apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations.

 After their respective competition on Thursday afternoon, the students attended an award session on Friday morning to learn of their overall team and individual rankings. During the session, team members Devyn Keller and Hunter Scrogin received a silver individual ranking. Ennis Childs and Cayden Caldwell received a gold individual ranking. 

Also, during this session, we would learn that Ennis Childs placed in the top 10 in the overall contest. It was at a later session where we would learn that Ennis Childs had placed first overall individually and was named the 2021 National Top Participant winner in the meats evaluation and technology CDE. This was an amazing accomplishment for Ennis, and the entire chapter is so proud of the hard work, dedication, and passion that he applied to learning this content over the last several months. In addition to their individual rankings, the members of the team also received an overall team ranking. 

The team received a gold emblem rating. This means that the team placed in the top one-third of the participants at the contest. We would later find out that the overall team placing was ninth place out of the 36 teams that competed. This is an amazing accomplishment by four members of the Van-Far FFA chapter, and the chapter, Van-Far R-I School District.

 Along with the representation of the meats evaluation and technology team on a national level, the Van-Far FFA chapter was represented on stage during a session to receive a three-star national rating for our national chapter award program. The national chapter award program recognizes outstanding FFA chapters that actively implement the organization’s mission and strategies. These chapters improve chapter operations using the National Quality FFA Chapter Standards and a POA (Program of Activities) that emphasizes growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture. Chapters are rewarded for providing educational experiences for the entire membership. 

Colin Wilburn received his American degree at the 94th National FFA Convention. As the highest degree achievable in the National FFA Organization, the American FFA degree shows an FFA member’s dedication to his or her chapter and state FFA association. It demonstrates the effort FFA members apply toward their supervised agricultural experience and the outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement they exhibited through their FFA career. American FFA degree recipients show promise for the future and have gone above and beyond to achieve excellence. 

Samuel Middleton also was awarded his American degree this year but was unable to attend the convention.

Lastly, 12 members of the Van-Far FFA chapter attended the convention to participate in a variety of leadership development sessions, attend the National FFA Expo and Career show, and visit a variety of agritourism spots around the Indianapolis Area. The 12 members that represented the chapter included Erin Childs, Kristen Shaw, Clara Wallace, Rebecca Motley, Katelyn McCurdy, Carmen Wilburn, Kayla Heaton, Abigail Shelton, Grace Smith, Reece Culwell, Andrew Myers, and Chad Troy. [submitted photos]