SOPD #1

“Experience the Legacy”
May 4th, 2008, our first SOPD meeting (State Officer Planning Day). Crashing at Sydney’s sister’s apartment, after sleeping in I woke up, around 9:30 to shower, and get all ready in my Official Dress! Leaving Minneapolis at 11:00 we headed to the state fair grounds to meet for our meeting at the FFA Leadership Center, but not before we stopped for a late breakfast at a bagel shop, I have to have my coffee. It was so great to see everyone’s smiling faces again; it was the first time the team had been together since Blast Off! Taking the time to visit with one another, we all got a chance to share what we have been up to since Blast Off. A lot of officers shared about their graduations, and summer jobs. For myself, there has been very little time spent on the farm (which I missL). I shared all about the FFA events I had attended and time I had spent with the family. I think the most enjoyable time I have had away from the FFA this summer has been when my family. I went to our cabin on the lake by Faribault to put the dock and boat lift in the water. I got to work on my tan, have a picnic, and take my 2 nieces, Ella and Katie, fishing. Boy, you should have seen the looks on their faces when we were reeling in those Sunnies. Once all of us were done sharing about our summer, lunch had arrived.
Now it was time to get to work. Mrs. Sheryl Meshke from AMPI joined us to help develop ideas and steer us in the right direction for choosing our theme. She reminded us about our goals, key messages, and who we want our theme to target. After about 3 hours of guidance it was time for us to start brainstorming. Before we knew it we had flip charts full of theme ideas. Each of us chose our top 5 favorites, and then we decided to sleep on it and see which themes grew on us. After our meeting the whole officer team went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, which in my book is always a good choice. Making good time, we were able to make it to the movie theater in time for the early show, so all of us enjoyed a movie with one another. I can honestly say I was one of about 10 guys in the movie theater; it was “defiantly a chick flick”, but I had a great time. It was great to see the team again and have everyone together.
May 5th 2008 needing to be to the fairgrounds a bit earlier that the prior morning, Sydney, Kaylee, Justin, and I were up earlier and had the truck loaded by 7:30, making a stop once again at the bagel shop for breakfast. We soon got underway with our meeting diving right into our camp curriculum. All of us were excited to see what our workshops were and who we were presenting with. We went through SGLC day-by-day. Once that was over, we met with our partners for our workshops to get an idea of what we wanted to do and what materials we would need.
Once again we returned to choosing our state theme. After everyone having some time to think about what they liked we brained stormed a bit more. We got it! We came up with the 2008-2009 Minnesota FFA theme, representing our 80th Anniversary. “Experience the Legacy.” So there it is MN FFA, our theme for the year, I hope you like it, because I am sure excited about it Legacy: something that is handed down or remains from a previous generation or time
Until next time Stationed by the Door:
Peter Thome