Illinois FFA leadership camp began bright and

early on Tuesday July 22nd in Monticello, Illinois. When

you arrived to the 4-H memorial camp grounds you re-

ceived your camp t-shirt, binder, name tag, and group

number. After you were changed into your camp shirt

the fun began. There were 350 FFA members split up

into 12-15 member groups. My group, number 10, was

called the Firecrackers. On the first day we completed

the challenge course where you learned trust and com-

munication skills. We also had a small group session

where we got to know each other a little bit more. During

our group session we put together our team flag, put

together our quiz bowl and volleyball teams, and took

our group picture. After eating that evening we had the

FFA amazing race and ended the evening with reflec-

tions in the Sunken Gardens.

Wednesday morning we began with daily dyna-

mite and power sessions. During the power sessions we

learned about leadership, Ag Careers, community devel-

opment, chapter development, and student develop-

ment. After our first power session we began the Ag

Olympics where we played some fun ag games! That

evening we had the red and blue dance, presented the

“hats off awards” and yellow shirt awards, and ended

the evening with reflections in the pines.

Thursday morning we had the group photo of

all 350 FFA members present, had our last power ses-

sions, and had our second small group session. After

lunch we had the volleyball and quiz bowl tournaments

and changed for the Red vs. Blue war. Group number 10

won the quiz bowl tournament and received the yellow

shirt award! We ended the night with a talent show and

reflections at the Point.

Friday morning we began our goodbyes to our

teammates. Every group by the end of the week ended

up becoming a family. People who, on day one, were

complete strangers, turned into people you couldn't bare

to leave. throughout the week each and everyone one of

the 350 FFA members present grew to be stronger lead-

ers and learned many things to bring back to their chap-

ters. This was a life changing event that will be unforget-

table. I gained life long friends and memories that will

last a life time.

President: Tucker Anderson

Vice President: Rachel Markey

Reporter: Sarah Nelson

Secretary: Ariana Boyer

Treasurer: Daniel Harrell

Historian: Paige Newman

Sentinel: Kaden Huston

Summer edition

Leadership camp 1

Social media 2

Meet your chapter officers 3-

4

Communications summit 5

State convention 6-

7

National News 8

“The growth and development of

people is the highest calling of

leadership.”

-Harvey S.

Visit and “like” us on our Facebook page.

You can find us under Illini West FFA

and look for our FFA logo! We will be

posting about upcoming events and exciting news in

our chapter!

New this year to the Illini West FFA social me-

dia is our Instagram page! We would love it if

everyone one went and followed us @iwffa1 !

We will be posting pictures from our contests

and other things going on in our chapter.

Also new this year is the Illini West FFA twitter page. We will keep

you up to date on contests and other events going on in our chapter.

Everyone follow

our accounts

and keep up to

date with the

Illini West FFA!

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President: Tucker Anderson Vice President: Rachel Markey

Reporter: Sarah Nelson Secretary: Ariana Boyer

Tucker is a Senior from Durham, Illinois. Rachel is a senior from Carthage, Illinois.

Sarah is a Junior from Carthage, Illinois. Ariana is a Senior from Carthage, Illinois

Treasurer: Daniel Harrell Historian: Paige Newman

Sentinel: Kaden Huston Advisor: Mr. DeCounter

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Daniel is a Senior from Carthage, Illinois. Paige is a senior from Carthage, Illinois.

Kaden is a senior from Carthage, Illinois. Mr. DeCounter is our advisor from Good Hope, Illinois.

The communications sum-

mit was held on Friday, Au-

gust 1, 2014 in Bevier Hall

at University of Illinois.

This summit was intended

for all chapter and section

reporters to grow their

knowledge on how to spread

the word about FFA. The

bus departed from Macomb,

Illinois at 5:30 a.m. and

headed for Champaign, Illi-

nois. Once we arrived at the

University of Illinois, we

were split up into groups.

Throughout the day we had

6 breakout sessions were we

talked about how to send in

a press release, advanced

and basic photography, so-

cial media, talking on the

radio, and how to improve

our newsletters. We learned

many new skills to bring to

our chapters to spread our

FFA news to our communi-

ties. We also listened to one

of the sponsors who helped

make this summit possible, a

representative from state

farm insurance.

"As the flag covers the United States of America, so I strive to in-

form the people in order that every man, woman and child may know that the FFA is a national organization that reaches from the state of Alaska to Puerto Rico and from the state of

Maine to Hawaii."

State

C

o

n

v

e

n

t

i

o

n

The 86th Illinois State Conven-

tion was held June 10-12, 2014

in Springfield, Illinois. 12 mem-

bers of the Illini West FFA chap-

ter attended the State convention.

Those members were Tara

Forbes, Ross Neff, Kody Stice,

Nicholas Hellyer, Daniel Harrell,

Sarah Nelson, Bobbie Oliver, Ra-

chel Wesley, Brendan Huls, Dal-

ton Newman, Bryer Fink, and

Brockton Tate. Throughout the

week we attended many sessions,

the career fair, a baseball game,

and the FFA dance. We hope that

everyone who took time our of

their summer to attend the Illinois

State Convention had an amazing

time!

At the 86th Illinois State Convention, Caroli-

ine Hartweg walked across the stage to re-

ceive her State Degree.

Daniel Harrell and Brockton Tate walked

across the stage to receive our chapter

growth award.

Taylor Hardy, formerly from Illini

West, was recognized for receiving

her American Degree at the 86th Il-

linois State Convention.

During the week, Sarah Nelson

walked across the stage to re-

ceive her Bronze Chapter Re-

porter award. She also inter-

viewed our chapter scrapbook.

This year the dele-

gates from Illini West

were Sarah Nelson

and Daniel Harrell.

They had the privi-

lege of sitting on the

delegate floor and

voting for the upcom-

ing new Illinois State

officers.

The 87th National

Convention and

Expo will be held

October 29 – No-

vember 1st in Louis-

ville, Kentucky. The

theme for this years

convention will be

Go All Out!

Nick Vujicic_ Motiva-

tional Speaker

Jeff Simmons– President,

Elanco Donnie Smith- President and

CEO, Tyson Foods

Jane Herlong– Humor-

ist and best selling

author

Justin Moore With Eason Corbin

Scotty McCreery With Danielle Bradbery

and the springs