Spirit of Champions~NPower 2012

Pictures  of the gym for general assemblies during
NPower

July 9-14 found the state officers along with 80 students from 4-H, DECA, FBLA, FCCLA, HOSA, SkillsUSA, and NHRI in Aurora for NPower.  *Take note, this is one conference that has no acronym...crazy, I know?! 

NPower is...

Nebraska's youth leaders

Networking to

iNfluence community change and

iNitiate positive action for the 

Next generation

Over the 3 day sessions, students experienced leadership and personal growth, and of course had a whole lot of fun!  It wasn't out of the ordinary to see us running around with water balloons for water olympics, pick up lines being exchanged after the dating workshop, peanut butter being cleaned out of student's hair during the dining workshop, or swing dancers in the lobby practicing what we learned at the dancing workshop.  To understand how fantastically amazing NPower truly is, check out these videos of all the fun that went on during the 2 sessions of NPower 2012:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWU7S8UFitc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT60mcwCCnw

Glenn's Gang

We all know that when you get state officer teams from 6 different states together for NLCSO that a gnome named Glenn is bound to be smashed, right?!

Okay, maybe you're a little confused?  That's probably a good thing.  It got your attention though, didn't it?! :)

National Leadership Conference for State Officers (NLCSO) was held June 19-22 in Aurora for state officers from Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Colorado.  We were given the chance to identify strengths and weaknesses as a group, learn advanced interpersonal communication strategies and presentation and delivery techniques.

NLCSO also strengthened our bonds as individual teams and allowed us to form new bonds with other teams.  Some of the greatest people I've ever met were attendees of NLCSO!  From dancing outside in the parking lot using someone's car for a stereo system to watching Smokey and the Bandit, those 3 days are full of memories that will never be forgotten!

Now, for the explanation of this gnome tidbit from before...whichever team put forth the most effort each session was awarded Glenn (the gnome) to keep until the next session.  Unfortunately, Iowa broke the gnome~no further comments on this subject will be made at this point. :P
No gnomes were actually harmed in the participation of NLCSO. 

The team with Seth Pratt (back left),
the National FFA Western Region VP

The Leadership Games~COLT 2012

So, I must apologize... it's been waaaay too long since my last blogging activity! :/

Over the past 4 months, the Nebraska FFA State Officers have been busy with Chapter Officer Leadership Training (COLT), the National Leadership Conference for State Officers (NLCSO), NPower, State President's Conference (SPC) and Business and Industry visits (B&I's)...yes, you will soon come to find out that we here at Nebraska FFA love our acronyms!  Keep reading to discover what COLT is all about and look for my future blogs devoted to the other previously mentioned summer activities. 

The main stage for COLT 2012~The Leadership Games

Our four COLT sessions were held May 17-30 in Aurora, NE.  COLT is for FFA chapter officers to learn how to effectively serve their chapters.  Focus is on individual leadership skills, as well as how to work as a chapter officer team.  Officers experience hands-on leadership activities, share and learn great ideas, and create an action plan for their year of service. 

While I had been to COLT two times before as a secretary and then vice-president for the West Boyd FFA chapter, never had I gone as a chapter president.  Not only would facilitating COLT be a new experience for me, the president's position was new to me too...needless to say I was a little worried about how COLT 2012 would go.  I had nothing to worry about though~my presidents were all AMAZING groups!  I am so blessed to have gotten to know each member at COLT and what makes them tick as officers of the largest youth organization-FFA.

<-- The walls of the gym -->

During each of our last sessions together, we decided to take a few minutes to capture our thoughts as to what we all took away from COLT.  Here's a few of the thoughts we came up with:

• Bake a big enough pie for everyone! :)
• COMMUNICATION is key in every situation.
• Welcome change to better our chapters and our lives.
• Make our own story, go against the grain, experience our own life~be ourselves!
• It is our duty to tell our own stories about agriculture.
• To be a great leader we can't have all the power to ourselves...we have to share it.
• The things we learned here at COLT will help us, not only in our year as FFA chapter officers, but in our daily lives. 

So, for all COLT presidents and other officers~I absolutely loved getting to know everyone!  The growth that I saw over the 3 short days of each session was amazing...I can't wait to see what we all accomplish over this next year!  

 These would be the four amazing sessions of COLT presidents. :)