Mid-Prairie FFA members attend Greenhand Fire Up Conference

Each year, the Southeast FFA district and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up (GFU) conferences for FFA members in the SE FFA district.

Clear Creek Amana High School welcomed FFA chapters from all over the SE FFA district on Oct. 15. There were approximately 800 members from 26 chapters who attended this year's GFU.

Attending from Mid-Prairie were: Parker Jennings, Quinn Callahan, Hunter Robertson, Burke Berry, Annette Witthoft, Callie Huber, Carly Nickell, Brylee Gearhart, Brynn Younge, Ava Gingerich, Reese Good, Sydney Knebel, Emma Lyle, Leslie Miller, Charlotte Sieren and Lanee Duwa. They were accompanied by FFA Advisor Elsa Schmidt, Carmen Sieren and Marissa Cline.

While at Clear Creek Amana High School, district and state officers lead four interactive workshops for first year high school FFA members, also known as Greenhands, for the annual Greenhand Fire Up Conference.

The workshops facilitated were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students.

“Greenhand Fire Up provides a chance for first-year high school members to get a sneak peek of the opportunities that FFA holds, and is a conference for members to meet and interact with state and district officers,” Iowa FFA Southeast FFA District President Kesley Holdgrafer said.

The officers prepared and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA.

The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond.