Communication Training

So- the next 'major' event we had as state officers was communication training! This was much more 'relaxed' (if you could call it that) than BLAST Off Training. During this training we met as an officer team and talked about everything going down for the summer and how we are going to tackle it. We also met with the Iowa FFA Foundation and learned the ins and outs of how it all works. Then we took on the task of completely re-constructing District Leadership Conference curriculum. With the help of Randy, we learned many useful skills on how to facilitate a workshop. He also gave us the best constructive criticism to help improve DLC. This took waaaaaaay longer than anticipated, but I am so glad that we worked together as a team and used everyone's ideas to (*hopefully*) make this a success!

During this week we also learned proper dinner etiquette. This was a very interesting experience. Who knew that you are supposed to eat french fries with a fork!? Or how about eat fruit with a spoon? Or my favorite, when eating soup, scoop it up pushing the spoon away from your body, then tilt the spoon upward and 'sip' the soup. When doing this one, I probably learned more ways to spill it on myself, the table cloth, and all over my face than how to actually 'properly' eat the soup.

After learning proper etiquette, we got to put our new skills to use first hand while meeting the Alumni for the first time. It was great to see so many people supporting us in everything we do. It's nice to know that someone's got our back.

That wrapped up our Communication Training, but I stayed at the Enrichment Center another night with Lindsay and Patrick (I just realized that I have forgotten to introduce you to our 2011-2012 state officer team, so we've got Lindsay, Sarah, Nicole, Logan, Patrick, Michael, and Marshal! And me of course!). This night we stuffed thank you letters for our many wonderful sponsors of the 2011 State Leadership Convention. We also had many deep conversations and fun bonding moments :).

The next day Patrick made me a wonderful breakfast of toast and eggs on a skillet. Then I was on the road to a meeting with a potential sponsor for the NW district's T-shirts. After that I rode back to my home-town school, boarded a bus, and journeyed off for our FFA chapter's Jr./Sr. Trip. Now I'm happily blogging from Orlando, FL. "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." Walt Disney. Peace out FFA! BELIEVE.