What Are Texas FFA’s Excellence Conferences and Why Do We Have Them?
Monday, January 3, 2022 | Author: Texas FFA News
What are Texas FFA’s Excellence Conferences and Why do we have them?
Almost ten years ago, Texas FFA adopted an overall plan titled the “Leadership Development Continuum,” a long-range plan with specific leadership development outcomes for members at different stages of development.
To achieve this goal, Texas FFA developed leadership conference programs for each year of a member’s FFA journey. Most greenhand-level conferences are conducted by district and area associations, however, the state association provides these growth opportunities for sophomore, junior, and senior-level students through three different Excellence Conferences.
Excellence Conferences
All of these one-day conferences are open to all Texas FFA members.
Made for Excellence
Leadership starts with the individual. This program focuses on personal growth and capitalizes on the wisdom, courage, and strength students need to be successful as individual leaders. Made for Excellence is a one-day experience open to ALL sophomore Texas FFA members and will be held in conjunction with the Building Excellence and Executing with Excellence conferences.
“The Made for Excellence conference helped me prepare for my future by allowing me to discover the importance of the different opportunities offered throughout FFA.” - Keaton Walker, Schulenburg FFA
Building Excellence
This conference is facilitated by Ziglar Youth Certified Speakers and focuses on self-image, relationship building, and goal-setting. Building Excellence is a one-day experience open to ALL Texas FFA members in their junior year of high school and will be held in conjunction with the Made for Excellence and Executing with Excellence conferences.
"It was an incredible way to reflect on my self-image and the way my peers view me." - Jacie Pennington, Paradise FFA
Executing with Excellence
This leadership development experience for seniors will help graduating FFA members learn how to apply what they have learned in the FFA jacket to their post-secondary education or the workforce. Executing with Excellence will be a one-day experience held in conjunction with the Made for Excellence and Building Excellence conferences. It's open to ALL Texas FFA seniors.
“I was given many valuable tools and learned new skills that I’ll carry with me past high school and FFA. Being able to listen to my peer’s future plans really proved how diverse FFA is and how much we all bring to the table.” - Austin Blagg, Frisco Memorial FFA
How do we hope these build on the Greenhand leadership conference experience?
So much of what students learn as Greenhands is geared toward understanding the appreciation of agriculture and the Texas FFA history. The goal of these conferences is to build upon this knowledge in order to understand the role of a leader and how to utilize talents that students possess to make a contribution in their various leadership positions.
What do we hope students gain from attending?
Our hope is that we are better able to substantiate that “premier leadership” piece of the mission statement. We already know that we have some talented leaders in our students but these conferences demonstrate how to harness that leadership into relatable activities that can be utilized at the chapter level or in any aspect of the student’s leadership development.
How do we hope this program grows and expands over the next few years?
Our goal is always to provide valuable experiences for our members that facilitate growth and contributes to the development of the whole student. By listening to the feedback from our stakeholders, we can continue to improve the current programs and develop additional opportunities that challenge our students to strive to learn and grow and know how to use the talents they possess to make meaningful contributions in all aspects of their lives.
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