I just got back from Oklahoma FFAAlumni Camp. This was my first time to attend and I ended up having the best time of my life. While up there I met so many new people, attended some really cool workshops, listened to some amazing keynote speakers, and really stepped out of my comfort zone.

So today I want to tell you guys how Alumni Camp impacted me, what I learned and what to expect if you’re ever thinking of attending.

This years theme was “ENVISION.”

I really thought about this and how we could ALL use this as our motto.

ENVISION winning that show, ENVISION growing your chapter, ENVISION a successful fundraiser, ENVISION winning a state competition and most of all ENVISION an AWESOME year.

To be honest, I was a little nervous, but the minute I checked in it all disappeared.

The kids here are just like you and me. They want to have fun, but they really want to make a positive difference.

We know that being successful will always mean hard work and responsibility or as I like to say, the FFA way.

On the first day, I ended up talking to one person and by the end of camp I had an entire new group of friends.

All it takes is one person and a good conversation and you’ll leave camp with a ton of friends that you’ll see at all different ag competitions from all around.

One group of people I really connected with was my small group, #29 (shout out to the Vegas Dawgs). They were the first people I met at camp and I couldn’t be any happier that I was a part of that group.

The team leader for small group #29 was none other than former State Officer Jake Landrum….This guy is amazing! I learned so much from him and can see how he was so successful while he was in FFA. He connected with each of us and inspired us to “be the difference makers.”

I was so fortunate to have the coolest SGL(small group leader).

At one of the workshops we had to write a song to our SGL based off the theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The song had to be about how thankful we are for them and what they had taught us over the past three days.

I thought this was such a great idea because personally I think that sometimes we take people for granted and don’t think about the time or energy someone gave up to help us or encourage us, I felt good to show Jake just how much we appreciated him to spend time mentoring us.

It made us all want to be that same person, to be “the difference maker.”

Another workshop had everyone get in a group of eight people and the challenge was to make some kind of machine, or form of technology, only using the eight people in your group, but the catch was that you had to use all eight people for the machine.

The whole point of it was to show that everyone has a part and that everyone is important and if your missing, even just one person, the whole group won’t work.

You can use this as an example of every football player, officer, band kid, or basketball player. The common trait between all of these different teams is that everyone plays a part and is important to their team in one way or another.

Last, but not least, I want to tell you guys about what some of the speakers said and what I took away from my stay at camp.

One keynote speaker really intrigued me with his story about climbing Mt. Everest and how, even though it was a long and hard journey to the top, he never gave up and kept pushing himself to the top because he had so much determination that he wasn’t gonna let anything stop him from reaching his goal that he set for himself.

If you really want to push yourself set high goals and don’t give up on them just because you think you can’t achieve them because I know you can if you ENVISION yourself doing them and set your mind to it, you’ll go very far in life.

So, for any of you guys who are a little intimidated about going because you’re scared to jump out of your comfort zone a little bit, believe me when I say you will have the best time ever.

Don’t be worried that you won’t know anyone there because by the end of it you’ll have a whole new group of lifelong friends by your side.

If you’ve ever been to Alumni Camp, or have the opportunity to go, or even if you have a question just comment! I would love to hear your stories. Thanks for reading!