Central DeWitt FFA at IAT Blue Jackets, Bright Futures:

Written By Taylor Houser.

Five of our FFA members traveled to the DMACC FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny, IA for the IAT Conference on November 8th. The Ignite, Amplify, and Transform conferences are intended to teach FFA Members valuable leadership skills they can apply to their future careers. The Ignite Conference for 8th and 9th grade members focuses on teamwork and collaboration, encouraging students to get out of their comfort zones and interact with people they may not know. This helps the students to build lasting connections with one another, which will come in handy further down the road in their FFA careers. In the Transform Conference, senior students were taught important employability skills, such as networking, professional attire, elevator pitches, and working as a team. In one activity, they were given 15 balloons and a roll of tape. The tasks was to arrange the balloons in a certain way so that they would be able to support the weight of all the group members at one time. The idea of this exercise was that it can be intimidating when we ask others for help. Transform facilitator and former Iowa FFA State Officer, Josie Kelly explained: "Did any of you think that the second you laid on the balloons, they were all going to pop underneath? Sometimes, when we rely on others to support us, it can feel like laying on top of balloons." She emphasized the importance of relying on our teammates to help us when we can't handle it all by ourselves, and that we all need to have a support system. When asked about the impact of the activity, FFA member Avery Heilig said "I liked using the balloons to try and support us. It reminded me we all need to me supported."