Blue Corduroy Jackets Will be In Fashion in St. Cloud Next Week

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) — You might see a lot of blue corduroy jackets around town early next week. The Minnesota FFA State Leadership Conference is in St. Cloud on Monday and Tuesday.

Career and Alumni Coordinator Natasha Mortensen says St. Cloud State University is hosting the two-day conference, but the attendees will also spend some time at the St. Cloud Technical and Community College.

Agricultural education is not just about farming, it’s actually a very small part of it.  We have about 40 percent of our students in agricultural education classrooms across Minnesota in power structural and technical system course work, which means they are doing welding and small engines and other things.

Mortensen says Minnesota FFA was planning for about 300 middle school and high school students from across the state to sign up, but they ended closing registrations once they reached 600 students.

Mortensen says they are the largest youth organization in Minnesota and they are still growing.

We actually gained probably in the last few years over 20 programs in Minnesota high schools.  We struggle the most with teachers, so if there’s anyone out there who wants to be an agricultural teacher ,we need you.  They can come right out of industry and be a teacher in agriculture.

During their time on campus at SCSU, the conference attendees will learn about the school’s biology department and visit the planetarium.

They’ll also go to the St. Cloud Technical and Community College where they’ll be able to operate a robot, experiment with virtual simulators, and test a 3D scanner.

Typically, Minnesota FFA holds their leadership conferences in April at the State Fairgrounds, but because the coliseum is undergoing construction, they needed to find a new location.

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