National FFA President Excited About Year Ahead

Doster Harper, an agriscience and environmental systems major at the University of Georgia, was elected National FFA President during last month’s virtual convention. Each year, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Even though it was all on-line, Harper says the 2020 convention was still very engaging.

“It was just really incredible to watch. My favorite part was the student’s reactions on Zoom to all of the award announcements that they were finding out if they won their award or not. Most of all of the agriscience fair competitions and proficiency area competitions were all televised live, and so students were finding out if they won those results live, which was incredible to see the reactions inside their classroom or wherever they were at in the country, just to see all that hard work pay off for them and to see them earn the right to get recognized nationally.”

When looking ahead to his year as National FFA President, Harper says he’s excited to spend time with students.

“The students are what makes this organization special. I think if there's any lesson that we've learned from the past six months going through this pandemic is that it's not necessarily the physical places that make anything special, but it is the people that feel most places and National FFA is no different. And whether I get to be with students in person or whether I get to be with them virtually this year, I'm just incredibly excited for that opportunity to get to be with students and to get to hear their stories and then translate those stories across the nation.”

Harper added while we don't know exactly what this year will look like, he’s excited to learn with his Blue jacket family.

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