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Happy New Year!

Our goal is to provide you with a quick overview of upcoming opportunities through the Minnesota FFA and our partners. Below are leadership conference details, State FFA Convention opportunities, scholarships available, and more! If you have events, internships, contests or other information to share, please email it to minnesotaffa@gmail.com.

Leadership Opportunities

Washington Leadership Conference
Limited space remains for the 2019 Washington Leadership Conference. The Minnesota delegation will attend July 15-21.

The WLC curriculum is based on the four tenants ME, WE, DO, and SERVE. Building upon each of these four tenants gets students to the overall objective of the conference which is becoming an engaged citizen who can make a measurable positive difference in their community. The Washington leadership conference is a delicate balance of providing FFA members with a premier leadership experience while exposing them to the rich history that DC has to offer.

Register now at: https://www.mnffa.org/wlc

Habits to Own Leadership Conference - Save the Date!
Habits to Own will be held March 15 in Roseville. Cost is $30.
This one day conference takes students through creating ripples of leadership in their personal lives. Attendees will learn how to develop action plans for their own lives from every angle in order to create an influence. The focus for this conference will be on building teams through relationship building.
Learn more and sign up at: https://www.mnffa.org/h2o

Member Opportunities

State Officer Nominating Committee applicants needed to select the 2019-2020 State Officer team! One person from each region will be selected for the committee. Applicants cannot have a member from their chapter applying for state office. Apply now at: https://www.mnffa.org/nominating-committee. Applications are due February 1.

Region Officer applications are due throughout the state.

"Running for Region Office is a great opportunity to interact with members and give back to your region"
- Martha Moenning, 2018-2019 Region VIII Officer

"Region office has shown me the value of time management and helped me properly allot my time so I can do what I want and what I need to do. Being that I am in FFA, have a job, and am a three-sport athlete, I have to really manage my time in order to meet all my commitments."
- Cole Fox, 2018-2019 Region II Officer

Contact your advisor for more details but due dates and application links for each region are below.

Region I: Postmarked by January 28 or due February 1 - Apply Now!
Region II: due January 30 - Apply Now!
Region III: due February 1 - Apply Now!
Region IV: due January 29 - Apply Now!
Region V: due February 6 - Apply Now!
Region VI: due January 30 - Apply Now!
Region VII: due January 30 - Apply Now!
Region VIII: due January 30 - Apply Now!

Apply now to serve as a 2019-2020 Minnesota State FFA Officer! Applications are due March 1 and available at: https://www.mnffa.org/state-officer

Save the Date:
February 1: State Officer Nominating Committee Application due

March 1: State Officer Application due; National Chapter Award due
March 4: AgriScience Fair papers due
March 15: State Band and Chorus Applications due
Land of Service and Ag. Literacy Submissions due

April 15: National Officer Candidate Letter of Intent due
April 26-28: Minnesota FFA Convention in St. Paul/Minneapolis

June 17-21: State Greenhand Leadership Conference
June 26-28 and 30- July 2: State Leadership Conference for Chapter Leaders

July 15-19: InTENSE Conference
July 29-31: POWER Conference for Region Officers

August 1: Minnesota State Fair Training for Barnyard Attendants and Ambassadors for Leadership

Check out mnffa.org for more details!

State Convention Opportunities

Applications for the State Chorus during State FFA Convention are available and due March 15. Learn more at: https://www.mnffa.org/state-ffa-choir

Applications for the State Band during State FFA Convention are available and due March 15. Learn more at: https://www.mnffa.org/state-ffa-band

Scholarships

National FFA Scholarship Application

Did you know the National FFA Organization awarded $2.5 million in scholarships in 2018, consisting of aid to 1,842 members from 44 states? That’s a lot of cash for college! Since FFA members come from a wide variety of backgrounds, the FFA scholarship program exists to help students achieve success in a large number of fields in agriculture. The top five areas awarded are agribusiness systems; animal systems; power, structural and technical systems; plant systems; and biotechnology systems.

Ready to get started? Now’s the time. The 2019 scholarship application opened on Nov. 15, and the deadline to apply is Feb. 6, 2019.

The 2019 FFA scholarship application is on a new platform that will provide a more robust experience for applicants. You’ll be able to log into your password-secure account from any device with an internet connection, check the status of your application in progress, save your progress and return to complete your application, and upload required materials directly to your application. Submit just one application, and you’ll be considered for all scholarships whose criteria you meet.

Visit FFA.org/Scholarships for more information and to apply. If you have questions, email Scholarships@FFA.org.

Five FFA All-Stars will be chosen from each state - Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska - to be featured in our FFA All-Stars Magazine. The top standout from each state will receive a $600 scholarship thanks to First Dakota National Bank and WNAX Radio.

Please complete all of the fields before submitting your application! We will be announcing our FFA All-Stars soon. Application deadline February 1, 2019.

FFA All Star application www.wnax.com.

James W Tracy Scholarship
The Minnesota FFA Foundation is pleased to bring life to James Tracy's dream of providing scholarships to youth involved in agriculture. Generations of young people will benefit from this donation as the funds will be used to support youth agricultural scholarships.

Scholarship Eligibility

Must be a resident of Minnesota
Must be a high school senior
Must be enrolled or plan to be enrolled in an accredited post-secondary school in the U.S.
Must plan to pursue an academic award (certificate, diploma or degree) in agriculture or animal husbandry

Scholarship Criteria

More than 15 $1,000 scholarships will be awarded based on the following criteria:

Leadership, involvement, agriculture interest and financial need.
Essay, limited to no more than 500 words, describing what excites you about a career in an agricultural field.
Two letters of recommendation. Letters must be from non-family members.
Upon completion of their first semester at a post-secondary school, the scholarship recipient will need to send a transcript (copy acceptable) to the Minnesota FFA Foundation showing satisfactory progress. Once transcript is received by the Minnesota FFA Foundation, a check will be sent to the scholarship recipient.

Scholarship Timeline

Applications are due on or before February 1.
Scholarship recipients will be announced by May 1.

Application

The application is available HERE

Chapter Opportunities

$400 Day of Service Mini-Grant Available
Day of Service Mini-Grants are available to middle school, high school and alumni chapters to make a difference in your community in one of four focus areas: Community Safety; Hunger, Health and Nutrition; Environmental Responsibility and Community Engagement. Please note: For Day of Service Mini-Grants, when you should apply is determined by the date of your service event. Requirements for event dates have been updated. To learn more and see a full list of the Day of Service Mini-Grant dates, visit the Living to Serve Grants website at www.ffa.org/livingtoserve/grants.

Collegiate Member Opportunities

Are you an FFA member who has experience in the field of production agriculture and plans to return to a career in production agriculture through work experience, training or other activities?

Are you a former FFA member currently attending a two- or four-year college or university and between the ages of 18-24?

During this intensive five-day conference, July 7-13, 2019 in Indianapolis, IN, you will network with industry experts, presenters and other aspiring farmers while attending a series of workshops and sessions discussing topics ranging from the global marketplace to farm financing, consumer trends and managing risk.

The application is now open and closes Feb. 15, 2019. Head here for more information.