Rockingham County Public Schools

On October 19th at 2:00 pm, 33 members of the Turner Ashby FFA met at the Staunton train station to head to Indianapolis, Indiana for the National FFA convention. We arrived at 4:45 am the next morning. After arriving at the University Place Hotel we were then given the rest of the morning to recuperate from our trip or travel the city. We met at 12:30 that afternoon and went to IUPUI (Indiana University Perdue University at Indianapolis) food center to eat lunch. Afterwards we headed to the FFA archives where Mr. Crickenberger corrected some of our hometown FFA history. Once we had finished with that, we went back to the hotel to work on homework, sleep, or socialize. After arriving back at the hotel, we were given the rest of the afternoon to travel the city. Mr. Crickenberger and Ms.Swecker took a group to Dick's Bodacious BBQ. We then held a meeting at 10:30 on October 20th to check in on everyone and to talk about the plans for the following day.

Submitted by Scarlett Reel, Chad Flora, Daniel Fleishman, and Jared Kile

On the second day of convention, we met at 9 AM in the hotel lobby to tour the downtown area. We saw where Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis Convention Center, and newly constructed Lucas Oil Stadium are located. We saw FFA Way, a street in downtown Indianapolis shut down during the week of convention to serve as the main path used by the roughly 54,000 convention goers. Then, at 12:30 PM we dispersed at Circle Center Mall to eat lunch. After lunch, we reunited and walked to the Eiteljorg Art Museum. The museum displayed much Western and Native American culture and art. After the tour, a few members set up the Virginia Booth in the Hall of States in the convention center. The day then concluded with supper, members doing choiced activities, and a chapter meeting.

Submitted by Wes Kline, Nina Miller, Chris Reedy

Day 3 October 23, 2008 — Today we got up and met at the lounge at 7:30. We then walked as a group to the convention center where we got in groups and shopped in the FFA mall. After we got done shopping we ate lunch and waited for the career show to open. At the career show we walked around exploring careers in agriculture and gathering free goodies. At the career show we talked to Leo George the owner and representative of our fruit provider for our fall fruit sales. We then attended the opening session of the 81st National Convention. Dana Hee a hollywood stuntwomen and olympic gold medalist was the keynote speaker for the session. We then had the evening to go get supper and explore Indianapolis. We then met at 10:30 PM for our nightly chapter meeting to talk about the day and discuss what we are going to do tomorrow.

Submitted by Beth Hartman and Whitney Gladwell

October 23, 2008

On the fourth day of National FFA Convention our chapter took the redline bus to the Indianapolis Convention Center to begin another busy day. Members took turns working in the Virginia booth in the Hall of States. When not working, members toured the Lucas Oil Stadium before the Virginia State photo, the career show, National FFA Mall, attended workshops, and participated in CDE events. Our Marketing Team consisting of Jesse Martin, Codi Jo Smith, and Paula Craun will be advancing to the final four in competition Friday morning. This guarantees the team a gold rating. Members also attended the Second Session of the Eighty-first National FFA Convention. National Secretary, Becky Sullivan, delivered her retiring address and Star National Chapter awards were given. Turner Ashby received a Two Star National Chapter Rating. After the session, the chapter went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for supper. The day concluded with a chapter meeting where the members, advisors, and chaperons discussed the next day's busy agenda.

Respectfully submitted
Nina Miller and Chris Reedy

It all started wayyyy to early. But, it was so worth it, because we got to go see our banging marketing team in the national competition. It took a while to get through, but we caught some z's, so it was all good. And we were shaken awake just in time to watch them rock it. Afterwards, a few worked our amazing hall of states, and others of us wondered around the Circle Centre Mall, the career show, or the FFA mall, to catch the end of the week sales, where you can buy shirts for five dollars! Later in the evening, some went to an awesome session to hear the vice-president give his retiring speech. Others went to the FFA Alumni Auction, which was a complete ball. There was about 9 of us, and a few stayed in a back room, and arranged items from a silent auction. The rest were sent out front to bring out their Vana White, and show off the items being bid on. Also, Sydney and Bri made up a beastly dance named the mennonite slide. Ask them about it later! We stayed there until 9:30, and we hurriedly made it to the bus stop, and missed it, so we had to wait for 15 minutes to catch the next one. There we met a homeless man named Andrew. He was pretty awesome. That brings us to 10:30, when we had our meeting that me and Ashley had to run to, because we lost track of time. And we learned that out marketing team got fourth place in the nation! We also learned that we have to be packed by 6:30 in the morning, and our room is trashed, so we're gonna peace out!!

Loooove!!
Sydney and Ashley