FFA Convention & New National Officers Elected

The 89th National FFA Convention has come to a close after an exciting week.

INDIANAPOLIS – Students from Delaware, Florida, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina and Texas have been elected by delegates from throughout the United States to serve on the 2016-17 National FFA Officer team.

David Townsend, an agricultural and natural resources and plant science major at the University of Delaware, was elected president. This is the first time the state of Delaware has had a national FFA president. Victoria Harris, a biology major at the University of Florida, will serve as secretary.

DeShawn Blanding, a biological engineering (natural resources engineering) major at North Carolina A&T State University, was elected southern region vice president and Trey Elizondo, a science and agricultural communications major at Texas A&M, will serve as western region vice president.

Ashley Willits, an agricultural education major at Tarleton State University, was elected eastern region vice president and Valerie Earley, an agricultural communications major at the University of Minnesota, will serve as central region vice president.

Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern and western regions of the country.

National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders, thousands of FFA members and teachers, corporate sponsors, government and education officials, state FFA leaders, the general public, and more. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.