Camp Timberland

Camp Timberland! Sibley State Park, New London, MN June 2 & 3, 2008 It was truly an honor to be called by the 2008 Minnesota National Officer Candidate, Mr. Brad Lanoue, from the Tracy FFA Chapter, and be invited to represent the Minnesota FFA Association at the Timberland FFA Camp hosted by the Marshall, Tracy, and Sleepy Eye FFA Chapters, all part of Region VI (the best place on the planet)! I had wanted to attend this camp ever since I had heard about it as a freshman and so I was truly PUMPED when I received the call! Brad told me that he wanted me plus one other State Officer to come to camp and present two-one hour sessions on service. I was truly enthusiastic about this because of the goal that our State Officer team has set for the upcoming year dealing with service! So, Mr. Peter Thome, the State FFA Sentinel and I prepared our sessions on service and were ready to head to the Sibley State Park. We decided to meet in Mankato because it made the most sense for our week filled with activities. I decided to head to Kato a little earlier to do a little shopping with my 15 percent of everything in the store at Herberger’s. Let’s just say I made off pretty well, but my credit card bill…not so much. We’ll save that for a later date however! I picked Pete up at the Minnesota Pork Producer’s Office. It was a really nice place that I had never been to before and I was excited to meet everyone in the office. We then hit the road heading west on Highway 14 with a destination some 200 miles away. The ride seemed to fly by however as Pete and I shared stories from all parts of our lives and got to know each other even better. Once we arrived at Sibley State Park, after calling past State FFA Treasurer, Lynsey Bengston for directions, (we were in her neck of the woods), we were swarmed with enthusiastic FFA members who were excited about the fun-filled week they had ahead of them, if the weather held up! After saying our hellos to Mr. Lanoue (Tracy style), Mr. Lanoue (Marshall style), Mr. Sawatzke and Ms. Hoffman, we unpacked in our cabins and headed to the great hall to start our first sessions. Brad went over rules with all of the campers and the expectations for the week. He challenged all members to Support Honestly, Risk Boldly, and Seize the Day! By doing these three things he guaranteed that members would Seek Improvement! Later that night, everyone gathered around the campfire and Pete and I were instructed to give a little crash course on reflections. Pete talked about how the FFA will build a strong foundation for everyone’s future career. I challenged members to have faith in themselves because they have the ability to achieve everything they never thought possible. After Reflections ended, it was time for Pete and I to perfect our sessions for the next day on Service! Mr. Sawatszke was also a huge help giving us advice and critiques on our presenting from that day! I learned so much from him about crowd control, correct content and how to ask the right questions! We woke up bright and early the next day, with breakfast starting at 6:30, slipped into our favorite clothing, Official Dress and got ready to present our workshops! The campers, along with the advisors climbed a mountain, had a great time, and came back to the great hall later that afternoon ready to learn about how to serve their communities, fulfilling the fourth line of the FFA motto, and “Live to Serve!” A nice surprise was when a few of the 2008-2009 South Dakota State FFA Officer Team, Maria, Wyatt, Shane and Brian, showed up to Timberland Camp! Maria, who is related to Mr. Skogland, another Tracy Advisor, brought along the guys to present a workshop later that day about Habitudes—Making your attitude a habit! I was super bummed that Pete and I couldn’t stay longer to get to know them, but we had to be in the cities bright and early the next morning! Luckily, we will get to know them better at NLCSO in Nebraska! Plus, they taught me how to play this cool knife game, sounds dangerous, but it’s really fun! And, my competitive nature coming out in me, I want to play it again and WIN! HA! Pete and I rolled into the cities later that night and pulled up to my sister’s apartment in Minneapolis. He and I developed a list of things we need to do before the year is over; one of those is to watch the movie 8 Seconds. So we popped in the movie on my sister’s tube, but were both so exhausted that we ended up falling asleep with only ten minutes underway. However, there will be plenty more opportunities for us to watch the movie! The whole summer awaits!