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Tuesday, June 9, 2009 10:05 PM CDT
State FFA convention brings chance for student to earn statewide office
CHS '09 grad a candidate for FFA state president
By DAVE FOPAY, Staff Writer
dfopay@jg-tc.com
SPRINGFIELD — Kiersten Kasey said she’s willing to delay her college plans and be away from home for 10 months of a year if she gets the chance to basically be a fulltime representative of FFA in Illinois.
The 2009 Charleston High School graduate who was president of the school’s FFA chapter this past school year is up for election as state president of the organization at its convention in Springfield this week. She’s already one of the 10 nominees from throughout the state who’ll be on the slate when delegates vote this evening.
Kasey is also president of the FFA section that includes Charleston and the rest of the area, and the state leader is usually elected from the section presidents. If elected, she’d spend most of her time for the coming year in Springfield and traveling attending to FFA duties.
“That was one of the hardest part of the decision, but I think I could do a lot of good for the organization,” she said.
She said she has “no idea” about her chances for being elected state president because she thinks all the nominees are qualified and have different strengths.
CHS chapter adviser Julie Niemerg, however, said she thinks Kasey could stand out because of her preparation and she does well with public speaking, which is part of the process tonight.
“I think she’s got a great chance,” Niemerg said. “She does a great job when it comes to presentations.”
There’s usually no majority winner in the first vote by convention delegates on the state president, Niemerg said. Some of the top vote-getters then typically move on to another round of voting and the process continues the same way until someone has a majority, she explained.
The state FFA president has to be a high school graduate and devotes a year to the position’s duties.
Niemerg said they include attending individual chapter workshops, training, organizing the state convention and attending the national convention.
There’s also overseas travel, likely to China or Egypt this year.
Kasey said she plans to attend Lake Land College, either beginning in the fall or after her term as state president if she’s elected. She said she wants to later transfer to the University of Illinois to study agriculture education.
The CHS FFA members also have a lengthy list of activities planned for the state convention, which began Tuesday and concludes Thursday, including:
n Recognition for 2008 CHS graduate and former chapter President Richard Birch for receiving the FFA American Degree, which will be presented at the national convention in October. The award is the highest FFA designation and is based on project record-keeping and chapter participation, Niemerg said.
n Presentation of the chapter’s award for its rating for its program of activities addressing student development, chapter development and community development. Niemerg said the chapter received the top “gold” rating in almost all categories of the program.
n Recognition of Kasey as section and chapter president, for 2009-2010 chapter President Justin Thomas for an award for his proficiency program results in the area of agriculture entrepreneurship and for member Jacob Bough for his state degree.
n Delegates Bough and Logan Burgett voting on a possible dues increase if needed to offset a reduction in state grant funding, and on a proposed state and chapter community service requirement to go along with a national FFA requirement.
n Recognition for the chapter for raising at least $1,300 for the state office, an amount designated as the “fair share” if every chapter in the state raised an equal amount.
Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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ak927 wrote on Jun 10, 2009 1:49 PM: