Tess Seibel of the Lord Botetourt FFA Chapter has been chosen to serve as the Virginia FFA National Officer Candidate at the 2018 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Ind., which takes place in October.

During the annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Agriculture Educators on July 18 in Wytheville, many FFA members vied for the honor and opportunity to represent Virginia and the 2018 National officer candidate. After a vigorous interview process the Virginia FFA Association selected Tess.

Tess graduated from Lord Botetourt High School in 2017; in the past year she served as the 2017-18 President of the Virginia FFA Association.

During the National FFA Convention in October, Tess will compete for one of six coveted positions on the FFA National Officer Team. She will be training and studying until the start of convention in hopes of becoming Virginia’s ninth national officer in 91 years of existence of an organization that was founded here in Virginia, an organization which is now is found in all 50 states along with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and is over 650,000 members strong. The interview process will consist of a series of interviews and writing exercises. She will also showcase her facilitation abilities by presenting a leadership workshop to FFA members.

In October nearly 63,000 FFA members and guests from across the country participate in general sessions, competitive events, educational tours, leadership workshops, an expo and shopping mall, volunteer activities and more. It is one of the largest annual student conventions in the world.