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Ohio FFA State Officers reflect on service

The 2022-2023 Ohio FFA officer team is busy hosting the state’s 95^th FFA Convention.

Landon Shelpman is the vice president at large.

“Something I really want to highlight about this convention is how emotional it is,” he says. “You see the winners throwing their hands up and cheering. There is a lot of excitement with Ohio FFA at this convention.”

Ohio FFA President Aubrey Schwartz says her favorite part of convention is seeing the hard work of members pay off.  

“I love proficiency results. Members get so excited about when they finally win. Whether they are first through fourth, getting to the top four in the entire state with over 27,000 members in Ohio is a pretty impressive feat,” she says.  

Schwartz is reflecting on her experience as a state officer.

“Our president serves two years. So, I was state secretary last year. I drove probably around 50,000 miles across the state of Ohio, but I’ve loved every minute of it. Whether I was meeting new members, gaining mentors in my life, or learning what I did well and didn’t do well in growing myself, it’s been two years I’ll never forget and I’m extremely grateful for.”

Shelpman visited 36 FFA Chapters this past year.

“I got to see all different parts of Ohio. Agriculture looks very different. You can go down to the rolling hills of Shenandoah and up to Lake Erie, where they have the flats,” he says. Everything is differnet and I’ve been able to experience that over this last year. That’s been very cool to experience how other people get to interact with agriculture.”

The Ohio FFA Convention will conclude this evening.

Audio: Aubrey Schwartz and Landon Shelpman