NC NLCSO

(I found this in my drafts folder... apparently I forgot to post it, sorry)

 

North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina  + Wrightsville Beach  +  FFA = BASICALLY AMAZING!  

For some fun stories about our NC NLCSO...check out Becky's blog with the "inside" scoop.  What an incredible group of states!  We had such a blessed time while we were in North Carolina.  

Whether it was riding in the back of the suburban on the way to Dinner with Georgia.  Florida teaching us the Iggle-Wiggle song, Georgia teaching us the new Cotton Eyed Joe, and listening to the intriguing accents of the folks from the Carolinas proved to keep us entertained for a whole week.

There was a volleyball tournament; we were pleased to hear from our Sponsors: Ms. Marilynn Paulson (Mosiac), Mr. Phil Horge (Wrangler), and Megan McQuoid and Brian Anderson (Monsanto); we enjoyed some stellar sea food; and we even got to enjoy one dinner on a navy battleship.

My hat is off to Mr. Davis and the entire North Carolina crew!  You are awesome hosts!

Here's a few snap shots from the week:

CHECK IT OUT! NLCSO Video

Greetings from Washington DC where we are gearing up for State Presidents' Conference. We are super stoked to get things started.

Guess what? I finally was able to upload the Illinois NLCSO Video. Check it out below!!!

MCP <><

Illinois NLCSO

Well folks, its that time again...NLCSO! But this time Becky and I headed out to the great state of Illinois where we were joined by Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin for a grand total of 48 officers! I could try to explain all day long, but I think something else might do it more justice.

Mr. Spencer, Executive Secretary, Iowa FFA Association put together this INCREDIBLE video review of the week. It makes me laugh a little in the middle (he did it just for Becky and I...you'll see--oh, and just to give you a hint, Becky and I both attend Kansas State University, if you didn't already know that).

And...how about some pictures?

What a great time!

Yep, as usual, I made up a new word: "synergistic" Everyone got to see the random, crazy, and yes, always-musical brain of Morgan come to life.

The week was complete with an amazing tour of the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, a water melon seed spitting contest, movie night featuring Final Season, and we definitely:

discovered our rhythm!

Thanks to Mr. Spencer again for the awesome photos and video!

Mississippi NLCSO

Hello All!

Can I just say that the State Officers from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Puerto Rico are a TON of fun!  Check out some of these really cool pictures:

Becky Sullivan (National FFA Secretary) and I have the incredible privilege of traveling together to present the National Leadership Conference for State Officers (we refer to it as" NLCSO" ... another acronym in the FFA?  Can't be!  haha).  Throughout the summer we will be spending time with officers at four different conferences.  The first started off near Jackson Mississippi at the Mississippi FFA Conference Center.  MS, AL, LA, and PR state officers were all in attendance!

During the week we discovered some great tools that will aid us in our year of service, the state officers started planning major conferences, and we even had a crazy bowling night.  Not only were the state officers an awesome group to get to know, the time we spent together couldn't have been any better!

Stages of Team Development, Planning, Implementation, Barriers to Team Performance, Evaluation, and Results are just a few of the big ticket items we discover throughout the week.

The theme is "DISCOVER THE RHYTHM" and we spend a lot of time "Rocking Out" with some super cheesy videos filmed by my teammates.  I'm going to try and upload some of the videos for you all to see just how goofy we can be.

In the mean time, go swimming, drink iced coffee, and go hang out at the county fair for me!

Signing Out,

MCP

The FFA Center

THE FFA CENTER
Indianapolis, Ind.

Did you know that our FFA center in Indianapolis is absolutely beautiful over the summer time? I didn't really realize just how much its like a small paradise during the warmer months. I took some pictures during a brief one day stop this month! Check them out!

Do you know what this is?


Well, it only part of a beautiful array of the fountain and garden in the front of the FFA center. Check out the rest of the picture:

Did you know that the garden plots were actually designed by FFA members? I think they did a pretty good job, don't you?


The bench in the picture below is in recognition of C. Coleman Harris former National FFA Executive Secretary. He retired this last year and served our organization well! I thought this was a neat tribute to him!


There is some really tall grass in the yard too!


Hope you enjoy these pictures. Happy Summer Days!

MCP <><

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home

There is nothing like spending time with folks that you love and have known for years! The time came and went too quickly, but spending time in the great state of Colorado for the 80th Colorado FFA Convention was really cool!

First, it was great to see the state officers that my state officer team installed do such a great job during the sessions. I was really proud of them. They did some cool stuff.

Colorado FFA Convention also broke a new attendance record. We had more than 1,750 people in attendance! That was great! Our state membership is a little over 4,200 and we are excited that so many members were involved in convention.

I also was able to spend time with my state officer teammates that I served with. We had a ton of fun together!


We were missing a couple when we took the photo...but to say the least, I am so blessed by the individuals I served with as a state officer. Go 2006-2007 Colorado State Officer Team! Believe in the Blue - Trust in the Gold!

I spent some quality time with the stellar CO FFA members during some workshops.

We were doing some construction!!


On floor 3, the builders ran out of money...construction had to stop!!


Check out this group of awesome new state officers! I'm excited to see what this group is going to do this year! Way to go all!

The entire convention was a success! Thanks for letting me be a part of it all. Visions of Blue - Hearts of Gold! Well done!

What a better way to finish off the week than to spend time with my incredible family at the lake. I LOVE THE LAKE! So my parents were kind enough to load up the jet skis and head out to North Sterling Reservoir!



There we are! Don't we look like we've been to the lake? It was so much fun, even if it was only for a day!

80th Kansas FFA Convention

Is there any place more beautiful than Manhattan, Kansas? Maybe there is. But for me, this place has a very special place in my heart. Not only is it the home of Kansas State University of which I am a student, (Insert Commercial Here: for more information visit www.ag.k-state.edu) :)...but, Manhattan also happens to be the home of the 80th Kansas FFA Convention! It was a true privilege to join Becky, the National FFA Secretary, in her home state for the convention.

The week was filled with great activities, but most of all I enjoyed the time I got to spend hanging out with members. Whether it was in McCain Auditorium, the Student Union, The Alumni Center, or even the time I got to spend at my favorite coffee shop, Radina's, I loved it!

I had a great time with some students during workshops!

All excited about what's going on!!

Math...yuck!

Nice shades, dude!

I also had the privilege to spend some time on the main stage speaking. My good friend Aaron was the official photographer of the convention and took some pretty funny pictures of what was going on with my expressions. I've decided that I am officially a good ball. Check them out...

Yep, its true. I am a goofball! Feel free to laugh at me.

The last day we had a big celebration at the end and the newly retired state officers took a cool pictures with all the tabs they had collected for the Ronald McDonald house. Their state wide community service project is called: "Tons of Tabs!" They filled up this whole pickup truck! Can you believe that?


Oh, and not to mention the Toyota Tundra...yep, that belongs to the Kansas FFA Foundation thanks to the incredible support of Toyota! Thank you Toyota for everything you do for us!!!

Until Next Time,

Morgan C. Parker <><

A&M, Florida and Nebraska COLT

Welp...I definitely have some updating I need to get done here.

T-E-X-A-S
First things first: We spent the first couple weeks of May in the state of Texas at College Station. Home of the Texas A&M Aggies! We spent our time there preparing for and presenting NLCSO (National Leadership Conference for State Officers) with some students down there as sort of a "dress rehearsal".
I decided that I must be a real Ag Nerd, because as I was flying I found myself taking pictures of clouds and fields. Quite the view from above...don't you think?

Look at those perfect circles. I thought it was pretty cool!

Clouds pretty much fascinate me. It's like flying through cotton fields with just cotton balls. So cool!!

F-L-O-R-I-D-A
Following that, I spent some time in the great state of Florida with none other than Brady Revels! I have a few pictures that I took down there, but the most exciting were those of the alligators.

Yikes! Scary, but cool!

Brady took me to the beach, we floated down a clear, spring fed river, and I even got to tour his alma mater, the University of Florida. (Brady would insert "Go Gators" here, but I'm not going to.)

N-E-B-R-A-S-K-A
Following my trip to Florida I took a jaunt up to the state of Nebraska for COLT camp. To say the least, this was an incredible trip! I really enjoyed meeting all the state officers and hanging out with the members. The FFA camp is quite impressive, and all of us really had a JOURNEY that week.

These were my buddies playing "big booty". We also learned the salt and ketchup dance. What fun it was!

Speaking of dancing...the dance even featured the CUPID SHUFFLE. It was so exciting and fun. Its been stuck in my head since then...yep...its true!


Lauren didn't like that my shirt said Colorado on it...

So she fixed it. I can't believe it!

I don't know how this happened, but it rained about 50 inches while we were there. It definitely made for an interesting flash light relay (you'll have to ask Nebraska folks about it).

They break up into teams, and have the craziest relay I have ever seen. With the mud and such, everyone was a little antsy and by the end of the relay all that was left of the flash lights was a few batteries and some lenses. We had a blast!!

Signing off,

MCP <><

YouTube videos

Favorite You Tube Videos:

Okay...lets be honest! Whats better to waste a few hours of time than to watch the millions of YouTube Vvdeos out there. Well, there definitely is some pointless stuff on there, but every once in a while I come across some really cool stuff! Check out some of my favorite YouTube videos!

Greg Patillo is a Beat-Boxin' Flute Player. Its amazingness!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crfrKqFp0Zg

Don't be that guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4bQKiLkQ4

And last but not least:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM
(you gotta love little kids)

What are some of your favorite You Tube Videos?

Shoot me an e-mail at mparker@ffa.org. I'd love to see whats out there!

Oh...and guess what? The 81st National FFA Convention is coming up soon! Get excited!

WOO HOO!

Morgan <><

New York State FFA Convention

New York State FFA Convention+Graduation

Greetings from the Tampa, Fla., Airport. I am waiting for my flight to Nebraska as I write this blog, and I realize that I am just a few weeks behind. My apologies!

On the 30th of April I had the great privledge of traveling to the Empire State...New York! And what a trip it was! I arrived late in the evening, jumped in my mini-van rental car (yes I looked hot, incase you are wondering...ok, maybe more like a soccer-dad) and I drove two hours north of Syracuse to a little town in New York called Canton. Also known as the Home of the 83rd Annual New York State FFA Convention. It was really "The Journey of a Lifetime!"

I loved being in New York, because in regards to FFA membership and size, they are very similar to the size of Colorado. It made me feel right at home! I had a ton of fun hanging out with FFA members and the state officers. The event was complete with hearing remarks from their National Officer candidate, Fireworks one evening (glow sticks too), and the excitement of the election of the state line and state officer team! Yehaw!

As the convention wrapped up, I made a quick trip down to Lubbock, Texas where my sister was graduating from college! I didn't get to go to the official ceremony, but I did get to go to the party where we had some fantastic brats and hamburgers! I got to see most of my family and it was a great time to be in the Lonestar State!

Happy Graduation Ceri!


More to come soon!

Signing off,
Morgan <><

Georgia FFA: Blue Jackets-Bright Futures

I heart Georgia FFA! What a crazy awesome trip I had down to the great state of Georgia. Georgia FFA is the 3rd largest state association with nearly 28,000 members. And the cool thing about it is that all this growth has happened fairly recently. In the last 10 years Georgia's FFA membership has doubled! Sweet-action huh?

Not only is the membership growing, but they sure do know how to do conventions down there. Check out their awesome stage! We're talking miniature national convention here!!




The week was filled with spending time with the state officers, meeting the officer candidates, and hanging out with the members. Two highlights of my week were meeting the East Jackson FFA Chapter and the Morgan County FFA Chapter!

Along with the main event of the convention, Georgia FFA brought in the one and only Luke Bryan for a fantastic concert! He did a fantastic job and all of us members were excited to see him there! He even singed autographs and hung out for a while after the concert was over.

I absolutely loved my trip to Georgia. I even picked up a little southern drawl along the way! Thank you Georgia FFA for a fantastic trip - one that I will remember forever!!

Signing off,
Morgan <><

South Carolina Super Saturday!

Hey Everybody!
I made my first trip to South Carolina this week! Along with my fill of sweet tea, and my first taste of collard greens, I had a fantastic couple of days in the South!
I toured some of South Carolina's top chapters: Abbeville, Pelion, and McBee. Located all across the state, these chapters definitely had their game in order. Check out some of these sweet pics:
Abbeville FFA: we had an awesome breakfast. Aren't they a great looking group?

And, random...but I thought this person had a lot of school spirit!

Pelion FFA Chapter has a sweet greenhouse!

Later, down at McBee after a brief meeting with the chapter we toured McLeod farms, home of Spencer, the SC State President. I had never seen peach trees before. It was pretty sweet!

We even got to meet Dr. Jim Rex, the state Superintendant of Education for South Carolina!

Then on Saturday I attended Super Saturday where students competed in Tractor Driving, Tool ID and Dairy Foods Judging. I had never seen tractor driving before. It was pretty cool to see!

Rock Solid - From the Inside Out!

What does [snow + tons of energy + blue jackets + rock solid + flexibility + amazing] equal?

THE 80th WYOMING STATE FFA CONVENTION!

My drive from the Denver airport to Cheyenne for the state convention proved to be a little challenging as suddenly from the sky came falling the largest snow flakes that I have ever seen...they were stinking wet too. I suppose it would be more appropriate to say that it was falling slush!

Although the snow proved to be a great benefit for farmers and ranchers it proved to add some challenge to the Wyoming State Convention. Unfortunately, a few of the CDEs were canceled due to closed roads, and thusly the convention sessions were completely rearranged. But who better than a group of ROCK STARS to take the challenge, meet it head on, and perform the concert of a life time? Yes, that's right, the 2007-2008 State Officer team did a fantastic job implementing the changes.

I once heard it said, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape." This statement certainly was true for Nancy, Kaycee, Burt, Saige, Beth, Kayla, Matt and Con - the State Officers.

Wyoming FFA has a TON of energy and it became evident during pre-session before the first session began. Of course, I did spend some time in the hot box with Wyoming's top FFAers as they put their name in the hat for state officer positions this upcoming year.

Among other awesome parts of convention was Wyoming FFA Talent. One young man is the absolute master at yo-yo...I'm serious he was amazing. Another young lady played the guitar like an acoustic genius, and a couple others sang The River, by Garth Brooks.

Along the way, the Wyoming Band and Chorus performed to add to the cacophony of musical performance. Ironically, the director of the chorus was a former FFA member who sang in the National FFA Chorus with my sister Ceri and I several years ago. It was good to see him again.

Even though I got made fun of for being from Colorado, and being a "greenie" (referring to Colorado's license plates) I had a rockin-awesome time! Congratulations to the 2008-2009 State Officer team! Wyoming FFA, you are "Rock Solid - From the Inside Out!"

Yours in the Love of Music,
Morgan <><

NH State Convention

Hello Granite State FFA

The New Hampshire State FFA Convention was amazing! Located in Bretton Woods, N.H., the convention took place at the foot of Mount Washington in an absolutely gorgeous resort hotel that's over 100 years old. Check out these pictures!


The CDEs, workshops, award presentations, a dance off, and a fantastic group of state officers made the convention incredible! Riley, Tianna, Sarah, Mike, Colton and Jessica (The State Officers) put on some exciting sessions. Oh, and not to forget Morgan Parker. No, not this Morgan (C.) Parker - The other Morgan Parker: Morgan (A.) Parker, the 2007-2008 New Hampshire State FFA President! Check this out, two Morgan Parkers!

My time was made complete the evening before convention started with my very first tasting of Ratatouille! Yes, just like the movie...I ordered it one night while dining with the state officers. How cool is this????

Other than learning about fine cuisine, I learned the importance of the word, "Wicked". It can be used in a multitude of ways: wicked, wicked-cool, wicked-awesome, wicked-crazy, but the top of the list is: WICKED-SICK!
Unfortunately, my time at the convention was cut short, and I was unable to stay for the entire duration. Best of luck to the new state officer team! Oh yea, and right before I left, I took this picture. I thought it was pretty appropriate for most of our advisors out there. Well, you know what I mean!

Signing Off,
Morgan C. Parker

Photoshoot and Home Time!

Have you ever had the opportunity to pose for a whole bunch of photos? Well, National FFA Merchandise staff decided to bring in the "experts" for one such photo shoot!
OK...so, lets be honest here, "experts" is certainly not the appropriate term for my teammates and I as the "models". Maybe a more appropriate term would be "novices". But we had fun, and under the direction of Roger (the photographer), Miss Terri, Miss Dawn, and Miss Sarah (National FFA Merchandise staff members), we hope to have taken at least a few good shots!
These pictures that we took all day long will be used in the new BLUE merchandise catalog. I hope you enjoy looking at the cool new clothes FFA has to offer, and hopefully you'll get a chuckle or two from the pictures.

Following the photoshoot, I have been blessed beyond measure to have a few days here in my home sweet home near Limon, Colo. For those of you who have been through Limon, WOW, huh? Okay, probably not, but it is a neat little town here in Eastern Colorado. Here I've been able to spend some time with my incredible family.

I've decided that I have been blessed with the most incredible family in the whole world. I have some of the best supporters in the whole world, and together we like to call ourselves, "THE TEAM." Sure, we are a bit weird, just like every other family can be from time-to-time (as the need arises), and we do have our challenges, just like everyone else. But when it comes down to it, I couldn't ask for anything more from my TEAM - My Family!

Ag Week

"By the year 2050, producers of agriculture will have to produce twice as much food as we do now in order to feed the world." Said Ms. Devry Boughner of Cargill. Devry was the keynote speaker one night this week here in Washington, D.C., for National Ag Week. What a statistic huh?
This week my teammates and I, as well as FFA members from the surrounding area, swarmed capital hill to share the message of agricultural education and FFA. We shared with legislators and agricultural organizations that FFA members are the future leaders of the ag industry. They are prepared to take charge in more than 300 careers in agriculture. And people were excited to hear about our 29 year high in membership as well as our plans for growth in the future.
The coolest part about sharing the message of FFA is when I get to explain it to people who really don't have any idea about it. After taking the time to describe the three components: classroom, SAE, and FFA...and talk about our members, the opportunities, and our passion - somehow something within them clicks. They get this look in their eye and they finally get it! What a great way to advocate and share our passion for Agriculture!!!

Check out some of these awesome pictures from the week!

Go Kansas Staters!! On the left is Caleb Alexander - 2007 National Star in Agribusiness (and one of my great friends - and his jacket - its 8 years old). In the middle is Becky Sullivan - National FFA Secretary (and my NLCSO partner). On the left is some goofy looking guy who was lucky enough to be in the picture. All of us attend Kansas State University. Check out the College of Ag website: www.ag.ksu.edu. It's a great place!


This picture was taken at the USDA office building in Washington D.C. On the far left is: Allen Bowers, Virginia State FFA President. On the far right is: Kaila Hahn, Virginia State FFA Reporter. And stuck in between are members of the Strasburg FFA Chapter! Together, along with several other FFA members, we had one awesome pizza party at USDA!


Our nation's Capital - isn't it awesome!!


This picture is taken in Dr. Troy Justensen's office. Dr. Justensen is the Undersecretary for the Office of Adult and Vocational Education. That the same office where Dr. Case works. And our picture was hanging on the wall, right next to President Bush!




Did I mention we met the Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer, and his wife! It was pretty cool!