Thousands of young people in those familiar blue jackets are being spotted in downtown Lincoln. The annual Nebraska State FFA Convention is taking place at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
State Director Matt Kreifels says attendance is up by several hundred this year.
“I’m proud to say that we have record attendance,” Kreifels says. “In fact, we have over 500 more students than we had last year and we topped out at just over 4,500 FFA members here in town.”
Kreifels says more Nebraska schools are offering ag education curriculum and that’s helped bring an increase in FFA participation.
“In the last four years, we’ve had 25 schools add a program that didn’t offer it before and we’re excited that starting this fall, we have 15 schools that want to pick it up for this coming school year. That’s a tremendous growth that we’re seeing with 10% in one year jump.”
FFA members from across Nebraska have the chance to participate in numerous activities and contests at the annual convention in Lincoln. The convention runs thru today.
By Dave Niedfeldt, KWBE, Beatrice