It’s been six months since the Illinois State FFA officers have taken on their positions. For West Prairie alum Owen Torrance, it has been six months of traveling over five thousand miles to roughly 100 FFA chapters across Illinois. While Torrance says he had an idea of what the experience would entail when he was elected state secretary, he adds there have been parts to the experience that have caught him by surprise.
“I knew I was going to be able to talk to kids, meet with them, tell them a little bit more about the FFA, but I didn’t realize the connections that I was going to be able to make with those kids. I didn’t realize that I was going to be able to sit there and talk to them about their goals and listen to some of them say that they want to do what I’m doing right now and be state officers in the near future,” says Torrance. “And that is something that caught me by surprise, that at the beginning of the year. I figured it was going to happen, but I never believed it until it actually did happen.”
While each chapter in the state had its differences, Torrance adds there is one thing that stayed consistent everywhere he went.
“I knew that the atmosphere that surrounded the chapter was going to differ from place to place as it naturally would, because your communities are not the same, but the core message is always the same. It is always consistent,” says Torrance. “FFA is a premier youth leadership organization focusing on agriculture and strengthening the future of agriculture in the state of Illinois. Now that might look different from place to place, depending on how urban your school district is or how rural it is, but the constant message has always been FFA, is this leadership organization focusing on the future of agriculture, strengthening the future of agriculture, and that is here to stay.”
Over the next six months, Torrance says the state officer team will be focusing on planning conferences, State Convention, and attending chapter banquets.
