CONTACT
Scott Johnson
Executive Director
Iowa FFA Association
515-965-7376
Each year the Southwest district and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for
FFA members in the SW district. Atlantic High School welcomed FFA chapters from all over the SW district on
Wednesday, October 9, 2024. Audubon FFA members were among the 325 members representing 29
chapters. Those in attendance were Garrett Heuton, Karleigh Burger, Olivia Inman, Brianna Belnap, MacKayla
Zuniga, Whitney Petersen, Katelyn Dreher, Lucy Stanerson, Ely Gomez, Hudson Hocker, Ty Bowlin, Leyton
Elmquist, Joseph Meaike, Kye Gleason, Landen Yager, Kaleb Nelson, Braeden Christensen, Collin Hansen,
Drace Johnson, and Paxton Beane. Daniel Tessman of the Audubon FFA also serves as a SW district officer and
led members in workshops along with Collin Bauer also of the Audubon and current State FFA president.
While at Atlantic on the 9 th , district and state officers lead four interactive workshops for first year high school
FFA members, also known as Greenhands, for the annual Greenhand Fire Up Conference. The workshops
facilitated were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning
high school students.
Iowa FFA President, Collin Bauer, stated, “Greenhand Fire Up provides a chance for first-year high school
members to get a sneak peek of the opportunities that FFA holds, and is a conference for members to meet
and interact with state and district officers.”
The officers prepared and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA
opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and
outside of FFA. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be
successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond.
Greenhand Fire Up is made possible with support from the Iowa FFA Foundation.