LIFE DOES GO ON AFTER FFA!

So I had heard from many people that there is life after FFA. I didn't believe it.... I was also told that state office wasnt' everything, that it wouldn't even be one of the greatest things I did. I also didn't believe that... well I still don't really... BUT I have found out that life REALLY DOES GO ON! Now our state conference was just last week, but lets just say I was preparing for having so much extra time after conference was over ahead of time. I knew I would need something to keep me busy. SOOOOOOO... I ran for a spot on our student government's senate here at the University of Idaho.
My friend, Stephen Parrott, and I decided to run our campaigns together. (Yes he is also one of my state officer teammates) Another one of our friends (also a former FFA member) who loves photography volunteered to take pictures and put together these little things for us that were displayed on Facebook. I think they are kind of cool. (even though Stephen and I feel we weren't the most photogenic that day...)

Anyways, we didn't campaign very hard because we were getting ready for our state conference and doing all that FFA stuff, but we still put forth a small amount of effort. We hanged two banners, talked to people, made a Facebook group, and told our friends to say good things. For the most part, we relied on word of mouth.

The results were announced last night. I did receive a seat on the Associated Students of the University of Idaho Senate. Stephen, however, did not. It's okay though. He is currently in a board position as the Director of Community Relations, and is perfectly fine with keeping that job a bit longer! Also, Samantha Perez, my good friend from high school (and FFA buddy), won a seat on senate!

Long story short, there is a life after FFA. I was Madame Reporter for Idaho FFA, now I'm Senator Clark for ASUI. I think that is something I can deal with.... :D

(Please note though, most everyone I mentioned was also involved in FFA. So even though we've outgrown the jacket, we'll never outgrow the experiences we had and people we met.)

Joining the PSO Club... Now I'm a Has-Been

For the past year my life has been consumed by the FFA Organization. The Idaho FFA Association to be exact, as I served as the Idaho FFA Reporter for 2008-2009. This past week was our State Leadership Conference. It was so much fun! We, the state officers, got to go on business and industry tours before the conference started, we were on a local radio show, we got to run the conference, gave out awards, gave our retiring addresses, and installed the new team of officers. Then we were given our PSO pin- Past State Officer. It was a LOT of fun, yet a little sad.

Here is my team outside of Idaho Milk Products that we were doing a business and industry tour at when the fire alarm went off. So we posed with the firetruck. No worries, it was kind of a false alarm. Better safe than sorry though, right!?

From left to right we have, Kelsey Day, President. Above here is Katie Mosman, Secretary. Then Whitney Tuckett, Treasurer. Stephen Parrott, Vice President. Kristin Myers, Sentinel. Laura Ann Clark, Reporter (That's me!)

Throughout the conference (that lasted 6 sessions spread out over 3 days) we as officers give our retiring address. Basically, it's out moment in the spotlight. The final speech we give as officers trying to inspire others, and let people know how we were inspired. After we give our retiring address we take off our jacket and hang it up. Here we all are after the 6th and final session, officially retired. (Jealous I can say I retired before the age of 20!?! haha!)

Here is the team after the conference, in regular clothes (it was sadder changing out of my blue corduroy jacket than you think. Pretty sure I cried. Well I cried all week practically. haha, we all did, even Stephen, our lone man. Even in our plain clothes though, we still got to hold up our banner that we all signed after the conference. Our Theme this year was, "Dream, Dare, DO". Those are the little words in the stars above the guy on the banner. We really enjoyed our theme, and our year to leave a mark on the FFA.

And now I have to show off my really cool Gonzaga shirt! My blonde buddy, Kristin, goes to Gonzaga and we all tease her constantly and try to get her to come back to the University of Idaho where she should be with us. So she got all of the team a Gonzaga T-shirt! haha, we love it! It was the first shirt all of us wore after we took off official dress.
Finally, here is a little video of what is called our Final Tribute. Feel free to check it out. It has lot of pictures of us throughout our year and each officer takes time to thank the people who have made the biggest difference in our lives. It is a long video, but kind of fun to flip through for a minute or two. (My tribute part is the second part, so like 2/6 of the way through! :D)

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me and my team throughout the year. Mostly thanks to all the Idaho FFA Members who made this year worth it! Thanks for being there and welcoming us to all of the events you guys had. I hope that we have inspired at least one of you the way that you all have inspired and touched us. Thanks!

Laura Ann Update!

So I once again have failed in keeping this thing updated very well, but I try occasionally! I figure that not everyone knows whats going on with me, so here is just a little update!

This last week I officially switched my major. It was formerly Agriculture Industry Management and Communications, and now it is Business Management and Human Resources with the emphasis in Human Resources, and I'm am still getting my minor in Public Relations.

FFA stuff is keeping me really busy this month. My spring break is next week (14th-22nd) and for most of it I will be in Oregon attending there State FFA Conference, and helping out with events, and I also get to be a workshop presenter. I'm really excited for that!!! Also, a month from today will be the kick off of the Idaho FFA State Conference- YIKES! I'm currently busy memorizing my parts of our three day 65 page script, award and degree ceremonies, and my retiring address speech. I'm even more excited for that. Also, this last weekend I attended the DECA State Conference as a workshop presenter and chaperon. (I feel so grown to say that! haha) It's been lots of fun!

Also, I am trying to get really involved here at the University of Idaho! Currently I am serving as the parliamentarian for the ASUI Senate. ASUI is the student government here at the U of I. It stand for the Associated Students of the University of Idaho. It's a lot of fun to be parliamentarian, and I love using parliamentary procedure. But of course, being parliamentarian I don't get to talk and debate, and voice my opinion. So this semester I am running for senate! I don't actually get to start campaigning yet, but I'm excited to start after spring break!

Other than that, I am just your typical college student who goes to class, goes to work, tries to get enough sleep, and does homework while playing on facebook all day!

So I've been told that I never update my blog so people can't keep tabs on me. Well I don't think it'd be fun to see pics of my studying my little heart out, going to classes, and working. Since I don't do too much else (besides FFA, but I have already let you all see a lot of that I suppose) so I decided to go find some random pics on Facebook, (yah, I know, pathetic) that I have been tagged in from other peoples pictures and put some of them up some explainations! So here it goes!

This picture was actually taken earlier this year, in October I do believe. This was the night that we after our Big/Little night. For those of you who may not know what that is, it's a Greek thing. In the Sororities and Fraternities up here there are a lot of people. So after being in the house for a while, everyone kind of gets to everyone else- our sisters. We then get placed with "Big Sisters". (Different houses have different ways of putting people together.) You get your Big after being the house for a little while. So next year when we get new freshmen coming in, I will get my "Little Sister". Here in this picture we had all just found out who our Bigs are. My big is Ashley (Not in this picture). She is super nice and I love her! The girl next to me in the grey hoodie is my "Twin Sister"! Basically, my big got two littles! And just like real family's, we have a family tree. The other girls in the picture are cousins and second cousins! (Complex, I know, but it's my Greek family tree!)


This picture has more of my family in it! This is most of us that are still in house, or on campus. My pic is the girl right behind me. Her Big (My Big Big- like a grandma I suppose) is right next to her in the brown jacket. And some of my aunts are in there and more cousins!



Here we have a picture of some of the gals at a sisterhood activity. We are in our dinning room painting bed tags. (We sleep on "sleeping porches". basically its a big room with lots of bunk beds in it) That way we can know who sleeps where if we have to find someone or wake them up!
This is me and Amanda!



This picture is actually very recent. I'm actually thinking this was Friday night... so two nights ago. We went out that night to a fraternity- Alpha Kappa Lambda. For some reason I look like I just stepped out of the 80's. haha!! It was super fun!
From left to right we have, on the back row- Karen Margaret, Emily, Michelle, and Amanda. On the front row there is ME! and Montanna. (Yes that is her real name.)

This picture has nothing to do with my sorority, but I was tagged by Kristin and I love it. For one of our more recent FFA events last month our state officer team went on some business and industry tours. At the United Dairymen of Idaho they gave us milk. Kristin and I were really excited to get a dairy product in our favorite color, PINK! Yahoo for the blondes on the team! haha!

So hopefully I will have something fun to update you all with here in the new future! But until, maybe this random pictures from facebook think will work out! I had fun finding and explaining them anyways!