212: Now We're Boiling!

by Meredith Penczek

What difference can one degree make? How can one degree be the deference between just hot water and the ability to power a steam engine? That’s all the deference between 211° and 212°. So it’s only natural that FFA names a leadership conference about taking things to the next degree. Freshmen & sophomores of the Paris FFA went to the 212 conference in Chicago , IL over the 28th and 29th of January. Only nine of the members were able to attend due to the illness going through the school. The attending members were Bailey Lawson, Sami Lawson, Holden Gates, Dalton Hall, Blake Webster, Jared Ryes, Alyssa Kispert, and myself. Ms. Hewitt and Mr. Steve Cox were the accompanying chaperones

The conference was created to help members work on their leadership skills. We worked in four main sessions, Passions, Virtues, Decisions, and Character. We learned about doing thing that made us happy by turning our passions into our virtues that will effect our decisions and then our character. We also were given skills to help make good decisions. We were involved in many activities that got us active with other attending members by everything from making a miniature Eiffel Tower to making little towers out of note cards and masking tape to just hanging out and enjoying ourselves.

At one point, three of the members (including me) were asked to volunteer for something without any details. We were taken out into the hall and told that our job was simply to tell a story to the group. We each chose our stories. The boy that went first Alex’s story was about getting lost in Chicago , mine was about getting my stitches, and the last girl Monica’s story was about her getting her dog. The people inside the room were instructed to have certain reactions to each story no matter the story. Poor Alex wasn’t even aloud to tell his they were so rowdy, I entered and left a completely silent room, and Monica had her room exploding with applause and cheers. This was a learning experience for all of about not only ignoring people’s negative reactions, but respecting other people.

We also learned about A-Pars. A-Pars are people who you can trust and are much like your partners in everyday life. They are there to help you make decisions and talk to you when you need it. We were given the idea to write a letter to someone we could keep as an A-Par at home.

The conference created a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. We met people who we can never forget and will always stay in touch with (Evan “Lion Boy”, Derek “Sasquach”, Sadie, Monica, Jasmine, etc.) Bailey Lawson said, “My favorite thing about it was meeting new people.” Some of the attending members are also keeping in touch with the conference speakers.

“This is one of the few conferences or events that our chapter tries to pay most of the expense on. It really helps the kids that pay attention and who are active within our chapter.” Said Mr. Steve Cox when explaining the conference to his ag classes.