WICHITA — Central Plains High Schools Ag-FFA instructor and advisor Wayne DeWerff took his students to the FFA’s South Central District Greenhand Conference at Wichita recently. With a record 850 participants, the Sept. 21 event at Friends University was the largest Greenhand Conference in Kansas FFA history.
The Greenhand degree is given to first-year high school students in FFA. Greenhand Conferences introduce first-year members to the benefits and opportunities in agricultural education and expose them to an FFA event above the local chapter level.
The conference got the year off to a great start for FFA newbies, DeWerf said. It provided an opportunity for the students to establish bonds within their own group and then see how they can strengthen them even further as they interact and become contributing members of the chapter.
Central Plains students heard from keynote speaker Michael Doud, K-State’s student body president from last year. He challenged the overflowing auditorium to approach their next three years of Ag.-FFA experience much the same as a WWF match — be intense; be engaged; be supportive of the people in your corner; and above all, “just go for it!”
Rotational sessions followed the keynote. These included a crash course on evaluating beef cattle and hogs, participating in a demonstration of drones, discussing the FFA emblem’s significance and history of the organization, soil conservation, the nature of crop science, an agronomy contest, and taking an FFA information test. Each group was also involved with the district’s community service project of designing placemats for the “Meals on Wheels” and shut-ins program.
When asked what the high point of the conference was, freshman Armando Vasquez quickly replied, “meeting people from other chapters,” whereas Izzy Hurley expressed, “I was really impressed with the district officers, especially when they conducted opening ceremonies. I hope our officers can pull it off as well as they did.”
Adding their perspective, students Rylan Siemsen and Peyton Dody both said walking the campus on their way to different rotations was fun. They spotted three or four trees that they knew as a result of learning them in class. The class has been preparing for the Nursery-Landscape Contest coming up next week.
“This is quite a neat group of kids to work with,” said DeWerff. “Their hunger and interest in the Ag.-FFA program is easily matched by their willingness, cooperation, and effort.”
Not being able to get a good visit in with the kids because of bus driving duties on the way home, DeWerff talked with them about their positive experiences them during the next day’s class period. “Listening while they shared their version of the conference was by far more enlightening versus what I might have followed up with them,” he said.
