For more than 50 years, thousands of FFA members from across the country have converged in our nation’s capital each summer to engage with legislators, hone civic engagement and leadership skills, and create community impact projects to take back to their cities and towns.
The National FFA Organization’s Washington Leadership Conference (WLC) took place June 4-July 20 at the Omni Shoreham, with six, week-long sessions for FFA members to choose from. FFA welcomed 1,610 members from 44 states at the 2024 conference, the second-largest student experience that the National FFA Organization will host this year, only behind the National FFA Convention & Expo which is anticipated to draw more than 70,000 attendees.
FFA members spent the week with agricultural and leadership professionals, facilitators, and FFA staff who guided them through workshops, seminars, and small group activities, with the goal of leaving feeling equipped and empowered to impact their local communities and beyond. Students visited national landmarks such as the National Mall, Arlington National Cemetery, Smithsonian Museums, and the U.S. Capitol, and they packaged 356,923 meals for those in need. Each day of the conference focused on a different principle taught through the context of our nation’s capital: exploration, encouragement, advocacy, and service.
The capstone of the conference was the development of a Living to Serve Plan, a civic engagement project that each participant pledged to implement in their communities after returning home. To develop this Living to Serve Plan, members were asked to analyze the needs of their communities before attending WLC. Students can lean on their FFA chapter advisors to implement the plan upon returning home. Examples of projects in recent years include promoting agricultural literacy, collecting and distributing shoes to individuals in Haiti, and creating a hunger awareness plan.
FFA members had the unique opportunity to advocate for agriculture through congressional visits during the week with legislators from their states. Members shared concerns and challenges from their communities and discussed agricultural-related legislation opportunities they see based on their own unique perspectives.
The 2024 Washington Leadership Conference is sponsored by Farm Credit, Growth Energy, Rabo AgriFinance and Syngenta.
For more information, visit FFA.org/WLC.
Photo and article provided courtesy of National FFA.
