(03/11/22) BATON ROUGE, La. — After an intense selection process, a committee of Louisiana FFA members and agricultural leaders have selected Kaleb LeMoine as the 2022 Louisiana FFA national officer candidate.

LeMoine is a freshman at Tulane University, where he is majoring in political economy and legal studies in business. He graduated from Elton High School in 2021 and served as the Louisiana FFA state president from 2020 to 2021. During his time as state president, he provided leadership for his fellow state officers and 10,000 Louisiana FFA members during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m proud to be Louisiana’s national FFA officer candidate because it gives me an opportunity to cultivate new relationships with students, industry leaders and educators,” LeMoine said. “This role enables me to represent Louisiana and be a reflection of the transformational power of agricultural education and FFA.”

The selection process scored prospective candidates in areas including communication, teamwork, character, influence and knowledge. The prospective candidates demonstrated these competencies in five rounds. In these rounds, the candidates participated in personal interviews, facilitated leadership workshops for FFA members, advocated for agriculture with industry professionals and presented an extemporaneous speech on an agricultural topic.

LeMoine will represent Louisiana at the National FFA Convention in October. He will compete against candidates from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for six national officer positions. If elected, he will be only the sixth Louisiana FFA member ever elected to national office since 1930.

In other FFA news, 23 Louisiana area officers recently gathered at the South Louisiana Community College in Lafayette for the annual State Leadership Delegates Conference. Conference attendees formally kicked off the 2022 Louisiana FFA delegate process, a student-led program in which FFA members drive positive change for the organization.

State FFA officers facilitated training for the area officers to prepare them for roles as leadership delegates at the state FFA convention. The area officers will lead four committees of FFA members to debate issues affecting agricultural education and FFA and develop committee recommendations to address those issues. Training focused on parliamentary procedure and committee facilitation techniques.

At the state FFA convention, each chapter is entitled to two delegates to conduct business. More than 400 delegates work in their committees, set annual membership dues, approve state FFA degree recipients and elect state FFA officers. The process highlights FFA’s focus on student leadership development and demonstrates the organization’s core value of being student led.

“FFA has allowed me to develop authentic leadership skills. Students often have a difficult time understanding what leadership really means. It’s more than speaking in public,” said Annie Heard, Area II president from Winnfield. “It’s engaging people, giving others a voice and inspiring others to be their best. At the conference, we get to actively work as students to make positive change in our organization. We hold the keys to determine how the future of FFA and agricultural education will look in Louisiana.”

Louisiana FFA delegate committees will meet at the Randolph Riverfront Center in Alexandria June 6 as part of the state FFA convention. Approved committee reports will be forwarded to the state FFA executive board for further action in September.

Louisiana FFA members and agricultural leaders have selected Kaleb LeMoine as the 2022 Louisiana FFA national officer candidate. He will represent Louisiana at the National FFA Convention in October. Photo provided by Louisiana FFA

Louisiana FFA Area Officers attended the State Leadership Delegates Conference in Lafayette on March 5. Pictured are officers representing Area IV. From left to right are Bryson Bonnette, state vice president; Allie Hubbard, Area IV parliamentarian; Alivia Quirk, Area IV president; Reagan Elmore, Area IV reporter; Lauryn Smith, Area IV secretary; Curstyn Oncale, Area IV vice president; Alaina Lyons, Area IV treasurer. Photo provided by Louisiana FFA