About six months into their term as state officers, I caught up with Brandon Roiger, Mallory Pagel and Heidie Sloot at the Minnesota Farmers Union annual meeting.
The trio was there to represent Minnesota FFA at the annual banquet. They promote the organization and interact with attendees. They attend several annual meetings. At some, they may be asked to give an invocation. At others, they may be asked to say a few words about FFA.
In addition, they also visit agribusinesses in the state and travel to FFA chapters.
Roiger, of the Sleepy Eye FFA, is the state reporter. Pagel, of the Fulda FFA, is the state president. Sloot, of the Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop FFA, is the state sentinel. They were elected state officers in late April.
Pagel's father is an FFA adviser, so she knew she would be in FFA. Her older sister, Kirsten, was a state officer in 2010-11 and was a big influence in her decision to run for state office.
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Sloot also followed her sister into FFA. She ran for state office to give back to members and to continue to have a connection to members.
Former Sleepy Eye chapter president Elizabeth Johnson has been Roiger's mentor, along with FFA adviser Mary Hoffmann. Roiger's goal is to be a national FFA officer.
Roiger was a national proficiency finalist at the National FFA Convention last fall. His proficiency area was Home and Community Development. Some of the activities he did for this proficiency include helping his agricultural education teacher, helping prepare for farm safety camp, volunteering around the community and teaching Sunday School.
Sloot and Pagel served as delegates to the national convention. There were six issues the delegates voted upon, including: Agricultural education as a career, promoting agricultural literacy, branding FFA, career and technical education and making sure the supervised agricultural experience, FFA and classroom training are a balanced circle. The recommendations from the delegates go to the National FFA board of directors.
All three encourage other FFA members to think about running for state office.
Being a state officer provides unique opportunities, Pagel said.
It certainly strengthens time management skills, Sloot added.
Pagel said she is so enjoying her time as a state officer that she doesn't want to think about April, when she will retire as a state officer and a new team will take over.
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All three attend the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. Roiger and Pagel are freshmen. Sloot is a sophomore.
