Sixteen Hughson FFA members attended the Made for Excellence Conference and Advanced Leadership Academy Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Modesto on February 14th-15th.

At Made for Excellence, sophomores learned from the California FFA state officers about SMART goals, how to investigate their own personal strengths, and new and exciting opportunities in the agricultural industry and FFA. Sophomores learned how to define leadership and identify how to be a leader in one’s home and community.  Also, sophomores explored tools for continuing leadership and personal growth, including “sharpen the saw,” a breakout session offered at the conference.

“When I went there I thought I wasn’t going to like it, but honestly when we got there there were so many people there to learn from and gain experiences from that I really enjoyed it,” said sophomore Veronica Rivera. “They [the state officers] had many ways of having us come out of our shell and have a good time.”

At Advanced Leadership Academy, juniors and seniors learned about understanding the focus of the National FFA organization and each chapter focused on one event in their agricultural program that needed attention. Hughson FFA members learned more about leadership and how to be a role model in their chapter and community.

“We learned about the four stages of bettering our chapter: performing, norming,  storming, and forming,” said Hope Fahey. “We got a lot of ideas of how to add more members to our chapter and to overall make our chapter better.”

Throughout the duration of the event, the advisors were consistently impressed by the professionalism of Hughson FFA members.