FFA Members Head to D.C. to Develop Leadership Skills

For more than 50 years, FFA members from across the country converge on Washington, D.C., in the summer to evaluate their personal skills and interests, develop leadership talent and create service plans that will make a difference in their communities.

After a two-year delay, the conference is back! Created in 1969 and held annually, the conference begins June 7, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. More than 2,000 students are registered for the 2022 Washington Leadership Conference, the second-largest student experience that the National FFA Organization hosts each year.

FFA members can attend the conference during one of seven weeks through July 30. They will spend the week under the guidance of professionals, counselors and FFA staff. In workshops, seminars and small groups, members will focus on identifying and developing their personal strengths and goals while undergoing comprehensive leadership training that will help them guide their local FFA chapters. The capstone of the event will be a civic engagement activity where participants apply what they have learned to a hands-on activity.

Members will also analyze the needs of their communities, develop wide-ranging and high-impact community service initiatives and implement their plans with the help of their FFA chapters upon return home. Students in recent years have promoted agricultural literacy; brought attention to abuse; collected and distributed shoes to individuals in Haiti; created a hunger awareness plan and more.

FFA members will experience the history of our nation's capital and tour landmarks including the National Mall, Arlington National Cemetery, Smithsonian Museums and the U.S. Capitol, among others. Members will also have an opportunity to participate in congressional visits during the week.

The 2022 Washington Leadership Conference is sponsored by Farm Credit, Growth Energy, Merck Animal Health and Syngenta. For more information, visit FFA.org/WLC.

The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 735,000 student members as part of 8,817 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.