National FFA developed the Next Gen Conference to give students across the country the opportunity to explore a variety of career paths before they graduate high school. Next Gen Conferences go in-depth in a different subset of the more than 350 careers in agriculture each year.
This year, from March 5 to 8 in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, the Next Gen Conference: Agricultural Communications will engage high school students in hands-on sessions, round tables, and tours to explore emerging trends, issues, and opportunities in the field of agricultural communications.
During the week, students will also develop a road map that will serve as a blueprint to guide them in taking their next steps after high school graduation.
“The Next Gen Conferences were developed to give our members an opportunity to explore future careers in agriculture,” said Ashli Weinrich, program specialist, advocacy, literacy, and ag-based experiences, National FFA Organization. “This spring conference will help us cultivate future leaders in the communication industry through a week of experiential learning, relevant education, and networking.”
Participants include:
- Arizona: Haleigh O’Donnal, Dawson Rice, Peter Groseta, and Trenton Castro
- California: Jayne LaVigne
- Colorado: Maranda Mason, Erin Tempel, Natalie Diaz, Claudia Rhoades
- Idaho: Isabelle Penuelas, and Joshua Nelson
- Illinois: Jasmin Leon
- Indiana: Emily Recker, Ellie Taylor, Sophia Shannon, and Lauren Argotte
- Iowa: Trell Amoss, Katrina Hageman, Natalie Schroeder, and Cora Berends
- Kansas: Kourtney Dibben
- Kentucky: Laney Pease, Elly Hampton, and Mollie Goode
- Michigan: Myleigh Rohner, Sophia Barnum, and Amelia Barnum
- Minnesota: Grace Bayerl, Morgan Marketon, and Chloe Haack
- Missouri: Jaylynn Zerr, Avery Ridgley, Colton Whitney, Meah McCoy, Cash Honeycutt, Preston McMillian, Sophie Geppert, and Callie Jennings
- Nebraska: Emily Holz
- New Mexico: Zia Miller
- New York: Breanna Craven, and Jack Beyer
- North Carolina: Morgan Harrington
- North Dakota: Bailey Urlacher, Samantha Burchill
- Ohio: Katie Bryant, Jessica Campbell, Emma Brandenburg, Kaylee Jennings, Jill Garland, Addison Roller, Taylor Johnson, Joanna Hamilton
- Oklahoma: Brooklyn Matlock
- Pennsylvania: Frances Weaver, Remington Weaver
- Tennessee: Leilah Crawford, Ariana Mota, Evalena Giles, Alyssa Calamia, Ellie Anderson, Troy Wiliams
- Texas: Ryan Stanley, Whitney Kennedy, Ella Allison, Linda Beth Norwood, and Tyler Bailey
- Wisconsin: Josie Bailey, Sonya Merritt, Abigail Sauvola, Morgan Van Schyndle, Jordan Lamb, and Elisha Vogel
- Wyoming: Carla Navarro, and Hannah Steele
Open to high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, participants were selected through a competitive application process.
There will be two additional Next Gen Conferences this year:
- Next Gen: Food Products and Processing Systems will be held June 25 to 29, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- Next Gen: Environmental Services and Natural Resources Systems will be held Sept. 10 to 14, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 945,000 student members as part of 9,163 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
