FFA officers looking to make big strides

MCALESTER -- Officers of the Kingston FFA chapter participated in the 2014 Oklahoma FFA Chapter Officer Leadership Training Conference August 26 at the Southeast Expo Center.

Officers attending from the Kingston chapter were: Jamie Jackman, president; Cheyenne Giles, vice president; Leathamae Howard, secretary, Brittany Ivins, treasurer; Jared Swilling, reporter; Dilan Shipley ,sentinel; and Chris McGowan, advisor.

The eight state FFA officers plaaned and conducted this year's conference based on the theme: "Small Steps ... Bigger Strides." Elected officers from each of the 78 high school FFA chapters in the southeast district attended leadership training designed to equip them with exciting tools for creating a successful chapter.

Kelly Barnes Norman, was the keynote speaker for the conference. Barnes, state FFA president in 2003-04, is an accomplished professional speaker, leadership coach and trainer.

"We have a lot of really good chapters in this state, but we want to make all of them great chapters," said Garrett Reed, state FFA president. "We want our chapter officers to realize that small steps at the beginning of the school year can lead to big strides at the year's end. It's all about creating a more successful chapter."

The FFA is an intergral part of the agricultral education division of the Oklahoma Department of CareerTech Education. There are 25,552 Oklahoma FFA members in 355 high schools statewide.

Cutline:Attending the recent conference were (back) Chris McGowan, Jared Swilling, Dilan Shipley, (middle) Leathamae Howard, Brittany Ivins, Cheyenne Giles, (front) Wyatt Shaw, Jamie Jackman and Gatlin Squires.