SLLC: Exploring Legislation, Giving Back & Providing New Opportunities

I was so excited to attend the Pennsylvania FFA's State Legislative Leadership Conference (SLLC) with my students this weekend! I had a blast with them at ACES two weekends ago, and I knew that this conference would be just as fun. We left at 9am on Sunday morning, and were running a bit behind. After making our usual stop at Friendly's, we arrived at the hotel, dropped our students off at their workshops, and Ms. Spurrier and I attended the Proficiency Award grading session.

I was apprehensive about this at first, as I have heard rumors that it can go on for hours and hours into the evening. I also did not know what I was getting myself into, as SAE has always been one of my weaker areas. However, my table ended up splitting the books and we each evaluated a section. This worked really well, and we were able to get a lot of books graded in a relatively short period of time. I was genuinely impressed by many of their proficiency applications and I now feel like I have a better understanding of what to look for in an SAE book and proficiency application.

In addition to grading the books, I met the agricultural teacher from Bald Eagle high school, which was a great opportunity as that program is in Centre county and just started up the year after I graduated high school. It was nice chatting with a fellow Centre county resident and State College High School alum, who also is involved in Ag Ed. Additionally, we found out that we know many of the same people... what a small world it is!

After supper, I spent the evening grading SAE books for my students (their 3rd marking period check-up). While this did make for a long evening, I am learning more and more about AET and what to look for in a project. I attended the closing session, then did room checks before going to bed.

The next day, after eating a delicious breakfast, I spent time grading the SAE books while my students were in their sessions. After lunch, we completed our community service. My group was sent to CATRA, which is a therapeutic horse riding center, for people with disabilities. This was such an awesome organization, and it was amazing to meet the men and women who made it possible. While at CATRA, my group cleaned horse stalls.

While it was a lot of physical labor, it was totally worth it! I was SO proud of my students while at this center. Not only were they polite, but they worked very hard, even after students from other chapters starting slacking and standing around. We were treated to Hoss's after our community service. One of my students was acting funny at dinner, and was not being her happy, goofy self. I was curious as to what was wrong, and later came to find out that she was having "boy troubles".

Upon return to the hotel, students cleaned up and then attended the dance. My student who was unhappy did not want to attend the dance, and left after a short time of being there. I worked on (you guessed it!) SAE books for the first portion of the dance, then I went down and chatted and danced with some fellow student teachers. I was pleased to see that the student who was having boy troubles came back to the dance. She found me, and explained that she was feeling better. I made it my mission to make her have a good time, so I pulled out my embarrassing dance moves. Although I may have made a fool of myself, I made her laugh and that is all that really matters!

The next morning, we attended the breakfast at the Raddison, with our representatives. We left a bit early from the breakfast, because our representative had scheduled a tour of the Capital for us. After getting the "public tour" of the Capital, our representative took us on a personal tour, where we were permitted to be on the House of Representative floor. It was very interesting to see and a unique opportunity.

I am so pleased with how SLLC went and so proud of my students. While I believe that this trip benefited all of my students, I think that it really opened the eyes of two students, in particular. These two students do not get the opportunity to get out of Union county very often, and have a bit of a rough home situation. Although I could tell that they felt a little out of place at the fancy events and social situations, I think that this was a great opportunity for them. I hope that this event, and their participation in FFA, helps bring them out of their shell, make them feel important and help them recognize their potential... because let me tell you, they have a lot!