FFA State Convention provides virtual sessions

COLFAX – The 90th Washington State Convention will be switching from its annual, multi-day event to four virtual convention sessions that will run from May 3 to June 1.

“With changing from in-person to a virtual event, it's been brand new for us, like so many other organizations that have had to change the way they do things,” said Washington State FFA Association Executive Director, Abbie DeMeerleer. “It wasn't easy for us to make the change.”

DeMeeleer said many factors were considered before making this decision. She said, if anything, they wanted to offer at least something for all of the members.

Some factors that had to be considered are certain events that wouldn't hold over to a virtual platform. DeMeerleer said the Career and Leadership Development events wouldn't transition well to the virtual forum. Because of this, the state convention will hold parts of the convention, in-person, in August. The tentative dates are set for Aug. 2-5.

“These August dates will not be a replacement for the entire convention. We plan on doing a number of components during our online sessions and we will have different components at this August event,” DeMeerleer said. “It's a big maybe, but we will possibly try for an award session during the August event.”

Garfield-Palouse High School agricultural career and technical education instructor Megan Wilson said there were students who planned to attend the convention. She said these changes are affecting the students greatly, not just the ones that compete.

“Not only the ones competing, but those that typically just go to the state convention for all the other opportunities that it offers,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of great things that our students are missing out on.”

Wilson said that even though this year's convention won't have the additional conferences, lectures, workshops, etc., the less contact and people the better.

In the Washington FFA State Convention digital guidebook it said that never before has the FFA Association been able to invite so many people to enjoy convention. It continues by encouraging FFA members to invite teachers, family and friends to tune in to this year's convention.

DeMeerleer said the majority of responses she has received about the change has been positive, but there has also been a mix of disappointment as well.

“Everything that is going on is not what people are used to,” DeMeerleer said. “For those who have been looking forward to this event there is a loss.”

Wilson said at this point they are hoping to still get all the contest winners determined before the national convention in October.

“At this point with the virus, our district-level FFA has made the decision that we are not going ahead with contests as normal so we were forced to take the results we had at the sub-district level and use that to determine our state qualifiers,” Wilson said.

She added that for some of the students this change is a disappointment. She said in a normal year many students would have had the chance to improve and compete again when the north and south sides of the district come together for a contest.

While many of these students have had their lives turned upside down with school closures, graduations postponed, etc., DeMeerleer said she is proud of the state officers who have remained positive and have done all they can for the members.

“The state officers have been utilizing social media, hosting games and Facebook events and over time we have seen an increase in viewers and interaction with these games,” DeMeerleer said. “We hope this makes people excited for the virtual state sessions.”

The sessions will go as follows: session one, May 3-9, session two May 10-16, session three May 17-22 and session four May 26-June 1.

For each session, the first day will hold a 3 p.m. session preview.

The virtual sessions can be viewed at either facebook.com/washingtonffa or washingtonffa.org/90.

The Washington FFA Association recently announced FFA members who have received National FFA scholarships for the 2020-2021 school year. From Whitman County the scholarship recipients are Gunnar Aune, Colfax; Paiton Kirpes, Colton, and Lauren Stubbs, LaCrosse.

Also in this year's state convention digital guidebook, Timothy Harder, LaCrosse, is recognized as a district star and is a state star finalist.

“Our convention receives so much support and appreciation and Whitman County is a huge base of the support at state each year,” DeMeerleer said. “I hope this year, those in Whitman County will tune in to the virtual event and be excited about this event and excited and look forward to volunteering at our 2021 state convention or future FFA events.”

Wilson said this turn of events is unfortunate, but they are trying their best to keep the kids safe, while still offering them opportunities.

“I think that the state and district are doing a great job of trying to press forward,” Wilson said. “We are doing the best we can in this crazy situation.”