My Weekend with AFA
by Adam Jobe, posted Dec. 7, 2008
I realized as I was packing my trunk for the weekend of Nov. 6 through 9 for a week of conferences, that if I started out being negative about my weekend, that’s only going to make it negative. I also realized that I’m running behind, so I drove 80 mph from my house to I-70 to meet up with my friends. We were heading to the Agriculture Future of America Leadership Conference at Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo. These were the four days that I had been dreading since I learned of my trip back in April.
AFA is an organization supported by many large time agriculture businesses devoted to support and promote agriculture students in America. AFA sponsors many community scholarships, one of which I received. The leadership conference is to help to develop leadership qualities in students and also help them to connect with many major companies.
The trip was actually starting off good. My car smelled like McDonalds and my friend Jason and I were comfortable up front listening to country music. The other two passengers Morgan and Kerianne were in the back, scrunched together by bags and clothing. We arrived in Kansas City earlier than expected due to my speedy tendencies, of which I warned my passengers. Two speeding tickets are proof of that. Although we arrived in Kansas City early, that didn’t mean that we knew our way around. After 20 minutes of tourism through the not-so-best parts of Kansas City, we finally arrived at our destination.
The lobby was packed with agriculture students from across America. We got in line and happened to meet a couple of MU students. The process of checking-in only took maybe 10 minutes, and I was off to my room to meet my roommate for the week. His name was Anday, an agribusiness student from the University of Nebraska.
Our introduction session was the first for the day, and since I had to wear khakis and a tie, I was already sweating. So far I have only described my experiences as negative, however, this is when the conference became interesting. A speaker named Charlie Plumb, who was a pilot with the Navy in the Vietnam War, started off his speech by stepping out three paces in four directions. This was the size of his prison cell in Vietnam, after he was shot down behind enemy lines.
Plumb described life as packing a parachute. Parachute packing is a minimal job in the Navy, which includes a continuous job of folding and packing, but it is a necessary job. He later went on to tell how he wanted to give up when things got hard, but a captain across the way kept him from giving up. He was told to think of his wife, to think of his life to be. We later learned that that captain keeping him company in the prison was none other than Sen. John McCain. When Plumb’s speech finished, we were off to track meetings and then off to bed, the one thing I had been thinking about all night.
It’s 6:50 a.m., I have to be down stairs at 7 a.m., and I am already running behind. When I arrived downstairs for breakfast, I couldn’t find anyone I knew and ended up sitting with students from Illinois. I didn’t talk to them much because I knew I would bring up football, and who wants to talk about Illinois football. Later that day, we learned the etiquette of dining. I learned where my drinks should go, to wait for the host and to always offer to your left and pass to the right. We also had the Opportunity Fair. This is where we were able to talk to many agriculture businesses about jobs and internships. I found it interesting talking to Pioneer and Cargill.
Saturday came, and I spent my whole day in a room learning the seven habits to the private victory. Really, I spent 4 hours texting friends and not paying attention, but I did learn some things from this section. I learned ways to be positive in the worst places and also ways to make use of your time wisely.
Sunday came along, and it was the last day of conference, the day I had been waiting for. I woke up at 8 a.m. and ran to our executive panel. The panel was made up of employees from businesses like UMB Bank and Farm Credit Services. Our closing session speaker was Trent Loos of LoosTales. Loos spoke of how many don’t understand how agriculture affects everyone’s lives. He also talked of how he didn’t enjoy Pamela Anderson, and how she is a hypocrite. Loos said he thinks she’s a hypocrite because she’s all for animal rights, but in half of her movies she wears 100 percent real fur.
My conference was an awesome experience. Mizzou gives out scholarships for many to attend this conference, and I would recommend everyone to try.
