My First ACES... as Ms. Mathias!

     This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend my very first ACES (Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success) leadership conference with my cooperating center, Pequea Valley. We brought 11 FFA members that participated in several different leadership workshops. The bunch that we brought are all so bright and natural born leaders, and I was super excited to see them engage with members from across the state. 

Our awesome, awesome ACES group!

        Things were a little different on the advisor end. I spent my afternoon planning for the upcoming weeks and mingling with ag teachers from other programs. I have met a lot of really cool people within the last year, so it was fun to see some of them again at ACES. Being at ACES in more of an advisor position also posed more responsibilities; checking members into their rooms, making sure they were where they were supposed to be, keeping them on task and on time, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! I also was able to do room checks shortly after curfew, which I honestly thought was pretty fun! The floors that I was assigned to was really good with no problems- perfect!

        Though I was never able to experience ACES as a student, I loved being there as an advisor. I enjoyed challenging the group that we brought- especially by challenging them to meet members from other chapters and make new friends. Watching them create new relationships last weekend was so fulfilling. I really liked observing how they looked up to the State Officers. I hope this weekend inspired some of the learners that we brought to run for state office someday!

        The big takeaway that I have from this weekend is that there are a lot of really talented young leaders, especially in FFA. Some of them have not had the opportunity to prove it to themselves and to others. I watched some of our learners realize that they really are good, young leaders. ACES was a really awesome, quick weekend that helped them to dig deep and realize that they are capable of anything that they can dream of. 

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