Hinsdale Sophomore Brings Home Bronze from National FFA

Members of the Hinsdale FFA Chapter had a trip of their lifetime participating in the 91st National FFA Convention and Expo held in Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 25 through Oct. 28. Sophomore Danika Soper also represented the Chapter by competing in the National Creed Speaking Career Development, where she competed with members from other chapters throughout the country.

Soper was put up against 47 other FFA members and ended up bringing home the Bronze award. The creed she had to recite is five paragraphs long and all FFA members have to recite it as freshmen and before they receive their Greenhand degrees. "The competition was extremely competitive. Three members who won the contest were from Utah, Florida and Wyoming. They started to recite the creed as seventh-graders, and most of the competitors were also Business Professional of America (BPA) members and had a speech coach," said Hinsdale FFA Advisor Patti Armbrister. "The Hinsdale FFA is extremely proud of Danika's accomplishments."

Soper is grateful for the opportunity to have the experience of competing at the National level. "Talking to some of the other creed speakers is where I learned the most. These kids are from large cities, and they had speech classes and coaches. Some of the creed speakers even have interesting jobs like catering or assisting computer programmers," said Soper.

During the conference, the Chapter listened to the creator of the "Evolution of Dance" Judson Laipply's presentation on "Life is Change," which according to Armbrister, was "highly motivational, creative and appealing, humorous and thought provoking, lively and enriching while extremely down-to-earth." They also experienced the Blue Room, where they were able to interact with various organizations that are changing the agricultural sector. During the session, top influencers in the agricultural sector provided TedX-style session talks and students had the opportunity to interact with young entrepreneurs in field. "The session we attended was very enjoyable and I'm glad we were able to attend," said Emilie Carillo, one of the Hinsdale FFA Chapter students in attendance.

The Hinsdale Chapter was only a few of the 67,540 members to attend the conference, taking in 450 exhibitor booths in the trade and career show that was also occurring during the convention. "I saw what one organization can do in the means of bringing people together, and I'm very thankful that I had the opportunity to be apart of something so great," said Soper.