September 10, 2008

Coming to you live from the Ontario International Airport in Southern California is another journal entry! I’m currently waiting to board the plane to return back to Galt after these wonderful past 5 days at home! This past week has allowed me to relax, and also get prepared for the upcoming journey a.k.a. Chapter Visits! I’m looking forward to that so much because I’m ready to start meeting as many of you as I can this year! To get you all caught up I’ll start from where I last left off I guess…

            Chico training seems so far away when looking at what we have done these past two months. Well after that home stay we were back at the house for a day and then it was off to Orland for the Superior Region SOLS! It was a blast to get to see new faces again, it always is! Here at the SOLS the Superior Region Officers and the Section Officers broke down their upcoming COLC and completed a lot of their necessary planning! The north valley and sierra buttes sectional officer teams we’re outstanding and during the state officer workshops they showed a lot of enthusiasm! It was a great refreshing way to start the engine right after a home stay! From there, it was back to the house for two days, and Graham and Kristen returned home from SPC in Washington D.C. We hugged, said our hellos, and caught up, all while we were loading up to head to Idaho for the next week to attend the National Leadership Conference for State Officers (NLCSO)! Another great experience that will help us as we serve all of you! The California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho FFA State Officers were all present and ready to “Discover the Rhythm” with our National Officer Presenters Kari and Brady! Two major highlighting activities that we partook in was White Water Rafting and Ice Skating!

We headed down to Southern Region for their SOLS and it was nice to go back and see how the new region and section teams were doing! I had been to this conference for the fourth time including this year, and it’s always nice to go to that conference and participate, Southern Region Leadership Team proved to be a lively bunch and I thoroughly enjoyed the team time with the section officers and getting to know some of the new faces! After the conference was over, we had a 3 hour drive to look forward to as we headed to Bakersfield to stay the night for our industry tours the next night. That night, for dinner, we ate at a Basque style restaurant, and while we were at dinner Kristen, Marlene, and I tried Cow tongue for the first time! It was delicioso, but I don’t think that girls liked it so much! The next day we got up bright and early, packed the van, ate breakfast, and headed to Dreyer’s Ice Cream and Bolthouse Farms for our two industry visits that day! And they were truly valuable. We learned that Bolthouse Farms produces 1.5 million pounds of Carrots a day and those carrots that are produced are either on the shelf or on their way to the store the same day that they are harvested! They also use every part of the carrot, whether it is concentrate, different styles, baby cut, or long stem, nothing is left over! After the tours we drove all the way back up to Galt, to get ready for State Fair!

State Fair was a rollercoaster ride, for me, to say the least! We were here and there doing this and that! I had the opportunity to interview outstanding exhibitors for Swine with Brad and we also judged Swine Herdsmanship all on our first day and to top it all off we presented awards at the Selection of Champions along with the rest of the team. I had never been to the State Fair until this year and unfortunately my presence was cut short compared to the rest of the team due to a death in my family. So I flew home for an unexpected visit, unfortunately I missed the Fresno State Training which I heard from the team proved to be very valuable! However, I was back and running with the team that following weekend for the San Joaquin Region SOLC! I must say that conferences have been my favorite part so far just because I love seeing how unique each region is in terms of putting on their own conferences! It really is a cherish able experience, and the San Joaquin Region provided nothing less than outstanding! I personally enjoyed getting to learn how to play the game of snaps form Devin and Nicole, and who can forget the intense volleyball game which we won, however we soon faced defeat from the advisors! We returned back up north for training at UC Davis which proved to be a very enriching training jam-packed with lots of information as well as GREAT food! I can never get enough food! We left training and headed back down to the San Joaquin Region for some industry visits with the EAT Foundation! Our presenter, Kelly, was very informative and excited about having us! We visited Land O’ Lakes, a Dairy, a soils research lab, the Heritage exposition, a Crop Dusting Competition, we drove tractors and the list goes on…after that day and a half of tours it was back up north to Davis where we had an industry visit to Campbell’s’ Seed Research Facilities! This was our last stop before our home stay, and that brings us to now! I’m on my way back up to the house! The team has a conference to attend this weekend in Atascadero with the South Coast Region Leadership Team! I’m looking forward to it with utmost excitement, and after the conference we start Chapter Visits!!! Exciting! And until next time…You Stay Classy California!

Levy Randolph

July 12, 2008

Busy busy busy! Whew, it has been a busy couple of weeks. From BLAST Off training, to the Ag teachers conference, to Costa Mesa, then home, and now most recently ROLC, our officer team has been extremely busy. We managed to find some fun along the way. The Ag teacher’s conference was really our first bonding experience mainly because we had all moved into the officer house at different times and we now had to sit down together and work on ROLC. Surprisingly, our team did really well and got right to work, coming up with ideas for workshops, team building activities, and we even found out our own strengths. As busy as the Ag teachers’ conference was, Blast Off was busier. Blast Off would have to be classified as one of the best FFA conferences of my life. The content and information we learned is so valuable, and our team had so much fun hanging out with our presenter from Arkansas. After each day of learning, we had to stay up and work on ROLC. We were in the process of writing our theme presentation, writing workshops, getting materials, and Working on our Patriotic Observance. Blast Off lasted four days and we basically learned all about our duties as a state officer and how we can make this year the best year for all of you.

We also had the chance to go home for a couple of days. I was able to spend time with my family and friends. I went to the San Diego County Fair and visited some FFA members from the San Diego Section, and I also went miniature golfing. The home stay was amazing and I really enjoyed getting to see my parents even though it had only been a couple of weeks since I had left.

Blast Off, CATA Conference, and the home stay went by quickly, and we were headed for our next adventure: Bass Lake for the Regional Officer Leadership Conference.

ROLC went by so fast that it’s hard to remember when it started. On Saturday morning after my home stay I flew out of Ontario and arrived at Sacramento airport at 9:30 a.m., there weren’t too many passengers, so I got my own row on the airplane, which made it easy to sprawl out and go to sleep. Ryan picked me up and we arrived at our house in Galt at 10:30, had a couple of hours to unpack, do laundry, and then the team left for San Francisco to attend the Giants Baseball game. We had the amazing chance to participate in the pop fly contest and watch the game from the luxury box. We came back Saturday Night and had Sunday to get ready for Bass Lake and ROLC. We arrived in Bass Lake in the afternoon on Monday, which gave us the evening and Tuesday morning to set up the conference rooms and get everything in order for the Regional Officers. As busy as we had been, I really enjoyed getting to know all of the regional officers. From the southern region all the way up to the crazy North Coast, every one was so cool and so much fun to hang out with. I enjoyed hearing funny stories such as Cole Rinehart’s car accident story and Superior Region’s “Big Deal” Ms. Katie Bielen. Other moments during the team times were disputes about Wolverine and the Human Torch with the South Coast Region, Tae Kwon Flowing with North Coast, Eating Starburst in the San Joaquin Region, and the rambunctious Central Region group. I had such a great time at ROLC, and it was really great to meet each and every one of you.

Well, now we are on our way back to Galt and have our second home stay next weekend. Our team gets a break for a couple of days to go home and see our families. This next week we will have training at Chico so that will keep us busy. Hope that helps cover everything we’ve done up till this point, I have had so much fun living this amazing experience.

Levy Randolph

Name: Levy Randolph
Date of Birth: May 27, 1990
Parents: Judy and Levy Randolph
Brothers and/or Sisters: Ashley (21)
Favorite Movie: A Walk to Remember
Favorite Food: Chinese
Favorite Book: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Favorite School Subject (other than ag): History
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Saying: “Let your memories be your travel bags”
Favorite Song: "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer
Favorite Cartoon Character: Goofy
Favorite Sport: Football
Favorite Hobbies: Sports, Friends, Amusement Parks, Games, Movies, Hiking, Exercise, and Eating