This last month the state officer team had the opportunity to attend the Southern Oregon District Leadership Camp and have Checkpoint Training with the Idaho, Washington, and Alaska State Officers where we experienced many forms of hilarious fun.

At Southern Oregon’s DLC the team was able to see true humor during the canoe race. Teams lined up to race across the lake in order to win the race, and most teams made it across the lake successfully. However, the Henley FFA chapter’s team had different plans than making it across the lake. As soon as the air horn sounded the Henley boat flipped over not once or twice but five times. Even though it was a competition the boys in that canoe made the event so much more enjoyable because of a little humor out on the lake.

The next week at Checkpoint with the other state officer teams we had a chance to display our own kind of humor. During our training we thought it would be hilarious to pull a few pranks on our neighboring state officer teams. During lunch one day, the Alaska State officers and us blew up over 300 balloons and dumped them all over the Idaho’s room. However, that wasn’t it until next day that we convinced the Washington team to visit Dutch Bros to get coffee. While gone we covered their entire room with over 1,300 styrofoam cups full with gallons of water. Washington FFA came back from Dutch and once both of the teams were done laughing we decided to transfer all of the cups into Alaska’s room. Throughout the whole week we were paranoid one of the other teams would prank us as well, but they didn’t…until the very last day of training. After returning from an enjoyable lunch, we looked at the FFA pickups and noticed something different. They were completely covered in saran wrap and inside there was a not-so-pleasant surprise of confetti everywhere.

Through these experiences I mentioned above and others that I didn’t have time to, the 2019-2020 Oregon FFA State Officer team has truly learned the value of making a joke at the right moment. Though we should always approach the jobs we’re given with sincerity, we shouldn’t take ourselves to seriously. We must learn to find humor in the little things and always be quick to laugh.

With excitement for the humor we’ll have on the journey ahead,

Your 2019-2020 State Treasurer Keegan Gibbs