By MADISON GANT
The Progress
The Virgin Valley chapter of the FFA held a summer officer retreat on June 2-4 at the Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
During the retreat, the organization’s youth leaders planned the activities of the upcoming school year. The youth also got to know their fellow executive team members and to form a stronger bond with them.
The retreat included 11 student officers that were split into two groups for the three-day retreat. The Junior officers attended the retreat on June 2-3, while the Senior officers attended on June 3-4.
On the first day of the retreat the junior officers got to plan a host of activities for the school year. This included some fun activities for the new FFA greenhand members just coming into school and the FFA program.
On June 3, all of the officers teamed up and went on tours to the offices of several local organizations. The group made stops at The Friends Of Gold Butte, Mesa View Physical Therapy and Pampered Pooches. The students learned about what each business does and asked questions of business owners and managers about how their business works.
At Friends of Gold Butte, Brenda Slocumb talked to the officers about the Gold Butte National Monument in Mesquite Nevada. She told the officers what they do to keep the monument clean and the petroglyph’s on the mountians.
The next stop was Mesa View Physical Therapy where Stephen talked about all the equipment and how they help people. Stephen also told the students what he does to help somebody that doesnt want to do physical therapy.
That day, VVHS Principal Riley Frei took the FFA Officers to lunch at Scotty’s Grill. The group talked about their day and chatted about some future projects.
The last stop was Pampered Pooches where Leah Ellison gave the officers a tour around and talked about some of the things they do.
After the tours FFA Advisor Lacey Tom took the FFA officers to do some bowling at the Virgin River bowling center. They had a good time there before heading back to the school where they watched a movie.
Lacey’s husband, Shorty Tom, as well as her kids, came and taught the officers how to make belts. And the kids had a dinner of burritos before going home for the night.
The next morning, the Senior officers met so that they could plan out the next school year. The group shared lots of laughs and tons of ideas.
For lunch the kids had sandwiches and watermelon with some chips and dip. The officers have lots of exciting ideas for the next year of FFA, including guest speakers at monthly chapter meetings, more dances, weekly mental health Mondays and more.
