Ashtyn Shrewsbury, a senior at Alliance High School, was recently elected to a Nebraska State FFA Office at the 85 Nebraska State FFA Convention. Ashtyn will be serving the Nebraska FFA organization for the next year alongside six of Nebraska’s finest young leaders.

The Nebraska FFA officers have a large responsibility in the organization, as they serve as role models for many younger students and are the faces of Nebraska FFA in the media and in the business world. Ashtyn began fantasizing about holding one of these coveted positions while sitting in the audience of the State Convention during her freshman year. Since her initial inspiration, Ashtyn has always toyed with the idea of applying, but she never thought she was good enough. Ashtyn received positive words of encouragement from previous State Officer teams, and, after realizing that she had no real reason to not run, Ashtyn began preparing for the preliminary round of interviews.

The preliminary interviews were held in Kearney during March. Ashtyn underwent two days packed full of interviews. The 36 candidates began with one-on-one interviews with every member of the interview committee. After completing these interviews, the candidates completed small group interviews that were filmed. The final events of the night were team activites that were observed by the committee. The final day of preliminary interviews consisted of an individual interview in front of the committee, a group of three presentation that had to be developed in only two minutes time, another individual interview with the committee, and one final committee interview. After the first round of interviews Ashtyn said, “I felt pretty confident. Interviews had seemed to have gone great, but I didn’t really know what to expect because there was a room full of 36 people who were all going through the same thing.”

The 17 candidates that made it though the preliminary interviews had to endure three days of interviews at the State Convention. The interviews at State Convention were similar in structure to the prelims. They began with one-on-one interviews with a new committee and finished the night with team activities. Ashtyn’s team created an arcade style game that they dubbed “The Game of Life.” Her group won the challenge after the committee members tested out each game.  Ashtyn had two short interviews with the committee the next day, and spent the remaining time competing and sitting in the holding room. Ashtyn said her final interview at State Convention was very casual and laid back.

As the process began to draw toward a close, Ashtyn said she did not believe she had gotten an office.  She said,”After the second day of State Convention, I honestly didn’t feel like I gotten an office at all. I had had two fairly tough interviews where they kind of beat me up. On the final day of interviews, the panel asked me lots of easy, general questions like, ‘What is your favorite thing to on a Friday night,’ and I was sure they didn’t want me and just didn’t was to stress me out anymore.” Ashtyn had to wait all day in the holding room before the final session of Convention, where they would install the new team of Officers.

Ashtyn and the sixteen other candidates circled up in front of the stage at Pershing Auditorium and waited for the seven State Officers to be selected. Ashtyn was elected third, and she said she was “…absolutely shocked. I heard ‘From the Alliance FFA Chapter,’ and I just screamed ‘What!’” All of the candidates hugged her in the circle, before she was ran up onto the stage by a previous Officer.  Once the seven officers were selected, they were installed and they adjourned the Convention.

The next year for Ashtyn will be very busy. She will be dedicating close to 150 days to Nebraska FFA. She will be living in Aurora, Nebraska for a large part of the summer while conducting leadership training camps. She will also have 20 chapters to visit, and attend district events for. The State Officer team will also do a lot of business industry visits, attend conferences, National Convention, and go overseas for an agriculture tour. Ashtyn says she is “excited to begin this crazy and awesome experience.”

We wish you the best of luck Ashtyn as you serve Nebraska FFA and positively represent our community.