Montoursville FFA officer leads reflection at ACES conference

The Montoursville FFA officers got to experience ACES, or Agricultural Cooperation Establishes Success conference, last month.

The officers were placed into groups of about 30 of their fellow peers from around Pennsylvania. The conference includes leadership activities between students who have never met, a dance and reflections both in the morning and at night.

The ACES leadership conference helps FFA organizations improve how they function and come up with new ideas to implement in their local chapters.

The conference is run by the state FFA Officers who dedicate four weekends at the end of January and the beginning of February. Due to its large size, the conference is held in the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel. The weekend Montoursville went there were just over 500 students and advisors present.

Each officer enjoyed different factors of ACES. Senior officer Emily Carson said her favorite factor was, “being able to meet everyone and get to talk to all the different chapters to see how they ran their FFA clubs.”

As the historian, Carson is responsible for taking photos of the officer team and posting about special events that occur within the FFA program.

One of the other officers, sophomore Ethan Hendershot, got to represent the FFA organization by saying the dinner reflection, or prayer, before dinner.

Out of the 500 plus people at the event, Hendershot, Montoursville FFA’s chaplain, was personally chosen by the PA state chaplain Madeline Musser. Hendershot.

“I think it was a very special honor to make history and to represent our FFA in a part of Pennsylvania FFA history,” Hendershot said.

Throughout ACES history the reflection has never been said by a student. It has always been said by the state chaplain, so for a Montoursville student to be chosen to say the reflection is a noteworthy presentation of Montoursville.

Featured image (above): Montoursville FFA officers pose in front of the stage for a picture. The Montoursville FFA officers were getting ready to start the ACES conference. Photo by Miss Nell Barbour 2024.