ACES!

Last Weekend, I joined Pequea Valley FFA for a trip to Harrisburg for ACES, which was a two day, one-night conference. Our trip started Saturday morning with us loading into the red Pequea Valley vans.     It was a smooth ride to Harrisburg for about an hour and 15 minutes from Pequea. We left early enough that we were able to stop at Chic-fil-a for lunch! Which seemed to be a favorite for PA FFA members, since there were ten other chapters there!

Check-in went pretty smoothly with our members; we brought five members to ACES, so the numbers were easy to work with.  Members had workshops all day and teachers had a workshop on NOCTI scores, where they were provided insight on how to analyze scores.   I sat in for a bit of the presentation then left to work on lesson planning with Olivia. It's great to talk to fellow cohort member because they understand what you are going through and sometimes need to vent.

Dinner was a unique opportunity! I got roped into embarrassing your ag teacher activities. It wasn't too bad the only thing I had to do was try to come up with questions as fast of possible! I ended up placing second (thanks to state office). The student seemed to enjoy this activity! Mainly because you get to see another side of your teacher!

Doug and I were signed up for night checks with students. That was an exciting experience. We only caught one student out of their room and had to tell a couple of rooms to quiet down. Walking through the halls made me remember my time in FFA and the excitement of staying at hotels with friends.  So noise was expected, but for the most part, the students were respectful.

Overall, ACES was a great experience! Students seemed to love this conference. As an advisor, it's a great conference to bring first-year members. It's not long at all plus member receive a ton of information and participate in a relaxed community service event.