National Convention
Convention is a yearly gathering of FFA members from around the country or the state. We travel to Indianapolis, Louisville, and Gatlinburg for a week to celebrate all things FFA. Members can attend a variety of workshops that range from team building to learning of potential careers in agriculture. At Convention, you are provided with the priceless opportunity to bond with your chapter and meet new friends from all sorts of places!
Sessions
You will also attend sessions, where the National FFA Officer team conducts official FFA business, such as bestowing awards upon national Career Development Event finalists, delivering their emotional retiring addresses, and handing out the American FFA degree to those members who have served our organization to the fullest. These sessions are not all business however; national officers always make them upbeat and energetic. Every year, National FFA brings in keynote speakers to tell their stories to members in order to inspire them. Some deliver tales of tragedy and others provide humor, but the goal is mutual: inspiration.
CDEs
Advancing on to the national level, the stakes are higher and the competition is strenuous. Here, you compete against other chapters that won their state contest. Competing in a national contest is a milestone of an FFA member’s career, but a lot of practice and effort is put in. Members who compete have a chance to win $1,000 each if they obtain 1st place. Riverdale FFA is always extremely proud to take teams to Nationals and have had the honor only a few times in our history.
National Officers
The national officers resemble what every FFA member strives to be: passionate leaders who love to serve others. Being elected to national office is an extremely difficult but rewarding path. National Officers travel all around the world and educate people about the National FFA Organization and agriculture. For the past three years, Tennessee has had the amazing honor to have representatives on the National Officer Team.
Career Show and Recreation
To pass time between activities, the career show and the FFA mall are open to all attendees. The career show is where hundreds of businesses and universities come to promote potential careers and college opportunities to FFA members. Just about every booth at the career show has free things to give out, so do your best to make it to all of them! National FFA Mall is located in the convention hall and has tons of FFA shirts, jackets, blankets, bumper stickers, hats, you name it and you can buy it. Concerts, rodeos, hypnotism shows and much more are all offered in your trip.
State Convention
State Convention is very similar to National Convention, just on a smaller scale. Members from all around Tennessee trek to Gatlinburg to conduct FFA business and enjoy each other. State Convention is more personal than National Convention, because you can meet members from camp, CDEs, and conferences held in Tennessee.
Like National Convention, you will attend sessions these consist of a combination of business and fun activities. At State Convention, you have much more freedom than at Nationals. Since our hotel is right in downtown Gatlinburg, we are surrounded by tourism based businesses, such as the Lookout Mountain lift or the Ripley’s Believe it or Not attraction. You can spend your free time wandering the Gatlinburg strip with your friends! But don’t worry parents, extreme cautions and rules are imperative for students to follow in order to continue the fun. On our first night there, all the chapters of Tennessee are invited to the Dixie Stampede, a fun-filled Civil War reenactment dinner and show.
No matter which convention you attend, or even if you attend both, you will make memories and friendships that will last forever!