Luck FFA members, Ella Tretsven and Macy Johnson, attended the Washington Leadership Conference in D.C. for a few days in June. Ms. Konder and FFA Alumni member, Debbie Tretsven, chaperoned during the conference.
Letter from Ella Tretsven to the FFA Alumni
Going to the Washington Leadership Conference was an exciting experience that we are very grateful for. We visited many parks, museums, and national monuments that we might have never been able to have seen if it wasn't for your generosity.
On the first day, we had a group session with over three hundred other kids before they split us into groups for another session. Between the two sessions, we were taught about how we as leaders in FFA can make a difference in our communities and that the community is there to support us in return. The focus of the day was citizenship.
On the second day, we traveled to Arlington National Cemetery and visited some of the grave sites of our nation's greatest leaders. We learned that every leader had to start somewhere. In our sessions that night, we were taught how to combine our strengths, passions, and what the world or community needs to find our purpose.
The focus of the third day was diversity. We learned that people have different talents and if people work as a team with each person doing what their talent is, for example, organizing or math, the job can be done more efficiently. We also visited the Holocaust Museum to see an example of how diverse the world is and that we need to welcome diversity.
The focus of the fourth day was advocacy. We traveled to the capitol. During the free time allowed that day, Miss Konder took us to meet the Wisconsin State Representative, Sean Duffy. In our sessions that evening, we learned the ten steps to advocate: Identifying an advocacy opportunity, Determining key audiences, Determining what they know, Determining how to best deliver the information, Develop message points, Communication-Materials-Promotion, Resources, Timeline, Evaluation, and Making the plan to Advocate. We had an extra session that night about understanding needs globally.
The focus of our last day was serving. In the morning, we did a service project which consisted of constructing meal packets. The rest of the day was free time in which we traveled to the Smithsonian, National Archives, the White House, and several other museums and monuments.
We had a great time and along with learning so much, we event met a few new friends!
