Every spring the PA FFA hosts the Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success Conference, better known as ACES. This was a conference I always enjoyed as a student as it was a night away from home, but this was my first attending in my "Advisor" role. Spending that Saturday and Sunday with 8 of my students was an event I had been looking forward to for awhile.Being located not too far away from Harrisburg has its perks as our drive didn't start too early that morning, though with 8 students, 2 advisors and all our bags, we did need to take two suburbans, which meant some of my students were lucky enough to have me as their driver (good thing they knew the way).
Once we got to Harrisburg it was time to check in, put the bags in the rooms, and of course pass out the always important conference t-shirt before opening ceremonies. After opening ceremonies, it was time for the advisors and students to split up for a few hours. While the students headed off to workshops to engage in leadership development and SAE exploration, the advisors headed off to our teachers' workshops. This year the workshops focused on inquiry-based learning lead by several teachers who had participated in the DuPont AgriScience Ambassador trainings. Our lab activity focused on "fishing" snack fish out of a pond following specific limitations. This was a great activity and I could see it being used to teach a number of concepts, including carrying capacity, sustainability, the tragedy of the commons, ethics and much more. Engaging in this activity supported the saying "teachers make the worst students," as throughout the activity some teachers didn't read and/or follow the directions, leading them to make up their own rules, but everyone was fully engaged and all of us picked up something different from the activity, which I think highlights the diversity within agricultural education.
After the workshops it was time to meet back up with my students and enjoy a great meal together. This of course meant lots of teasing about desserts, and never-ending comments about the mashed potatoes that my students say they wait all year for, but first an impromptu lesson in how to tie a tie. Just goes to show that you don't need to be a boy to know how to tie a tie (guess I should learn soon).After dinner was some time to catch up with fellow teachers and student teachers, and several of my students from home and Governor's School. After some quick catching up, now was time for the true social portion of the conference - the annual dance. All of my students were required to be at the dance for at least the first portion to check in and be social, but then were allowed to go to their rooms if they wanted. All of my students chose to stay though only a few actually danced. So what did the rest of us do? The timeless classic - played cards.
I got to spend the rest of the night talking with my students while playing cards, catching up some more with fellow student teachers, checking in on my students on the dance floor every so often to make sure everything was PG, and otherwise enjoyed a relaxing evening. Once the dance ended my students headed back to their rooms for lights out, while Mrs. D and I joined several other teachers on the nightly "courtesy corps," making a couple rounds and making sure all the students on our designated floors were quietly going to bed and not disturbing the other hotel guests.
The next morning we enjoyed another great meal, enjoyed some thoughtful reflections from the State FFA Officers, and participated in a simple community service project - writing letters thanking our nation's veterans, wounded warriors, and currently deployed service men and women. Overall, we had a great conference - I was able to interact with my students outside their comfort zones, stretching themselves to learn new things and meet new people. Everyone went home that day with great memories and new friends and while I was extra tired knowing tomorrow was Monday, it was a good refresher and boost for going back.
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