Students from Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Missouri were elected by National FFA Delegates today to serve as 2020-21 National FFA Officers.
These members were selected from 38 candidates vying for the honor. Candidates take part in an extensive online interview process with the National FFA Officer Nominating Committee leading up to the selection. The new team was announced during the sixth general session of the 93rd National FFA Convention & Expo on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Doster Harper, an agriscience and environmental systems major at the University of Georgia, was elected national president.
Anna Mathis, an agricultural communication major at the University of Arkansas, was elected national secretary.
Paxton Dahmer, an agricultural education and leadership major at the University of Missouri – Columbia, was elected central region vice president.
Miriam Hoffman, an agribusiness economics major at Southern Illinois University, was elected eastern region vice president.
David Lopez, an agricultural communications major at California Polytechnic State, was elected western region vice president.
Artha Jonassaint, a government and global health major at Harvard, was elected southern region vice president.
Each year during the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern, and western regions of the country.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually.
National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Throughout their year of service, the officers will interact with business and industry leaders; thousands of FFA members and teachers; corporate sponsors; government and education officials; state FFA leaders; the general public; and more. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and the next generation of leaders.
The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 760,000 student members as part of 8,700 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
