Paulding FFA Attends the 98th Annual Ohio FFA State Convention
By: Makenna Manz, Paulding FFA Reporter
On April 30th, 2026, the Paulding FFA Chapter took twenty-seven students and two FFA Advisors to attend the 98th Ohio FFA State Convention at the Ohio Expo Center & Fairgrounds in Columbus.
They departed at 10 a.m. in their matching blue FFA convention shirts. On the way down to Columbus, they made a stop at MVP Dairy to receive a tour. They had a nice little museum where students learned about the history of the dairy. Then students took a ride on a tour bus around their barns and saw all of their cows. At the last station, we saw their milking carousel where 80 cows ride on in a circular motion as they get milked, which takes around 10 minutes. The students received free Dannon yogurt as all of the milk MVP Dairy produces goes to Dannon.
They soon after, arrived at the Drury Inn to unpack their luggage and later enjoyed shopping time at the Polaris mall. For dinner the students were given a meal at the Cheesecake Factory, courtesy of the Paulding FFA Alumni. The group then went to Slick City which was an action park filled with slides, basketball courts, and bouncy floors.
The following morning students ate breakfast at the Drury Inn and put on their official dress to go to convention! They found seats and watched the state FFA officer team take the stage for session one.
The Paulding FFA Chapter was awarded the charitable giving award for chapters that have given over $500 in donations, this award was accepted by Darcy Taylor.
After this, the group was given time to explore the expo center and shop. In session two, Addy Hunt and Tori Schlatter accepted the Gold Chapter Award for chapters who have performed exceptionally well in their communities and were rated Gold on their National Chapter Application Paulding FFA was one of twenty-five chapters to receive this award in Ohio. The keynote speaker of this session was Brad Hurtig, who spoke of his difficulties without arms. He told of being able to play football with prosthetic arms and through hard work was able to “dominate the field.” They then ended the day by celebrating Jeff Holtsberry as he received his State Honorary Degree award! Jeff is our bus driver and has been supporting our FFA Chapter for over 15 years.
On the third day of the trip, FFA chapter secretaries, treasurers, and reporters received Gold rated book awards for outstanding work done on their books. Myrriah Manz received a secretary book award, Mariah Klopfenstein received a treasurer book award, and Vivienne Myers received a reporter book award.
The chapter then received state winning plaques for Aquarium and Ag Biotechnology. Congratulations to both teams. Students also got to see Carter Boyd give his retiring speech as the State FFA President. In his speech, Boyd encouraged everyone to discover their interests and who they are. State FFA degrees were also awarded to qualifying students from across Ohio. The Paulding FFA Chapter’s State Degree Recipients were as follows: Avery Cooper, Kayleigh Dunham, Jayla Griffith, Mariah Klopfenstein, Mackenzie Leatherman, Kate Manz, Myrriah Manz, Gannon Parrett, Addy Pease, Estie Pease, Tori Schlatter and Riley Stork!
The 98th annual FFA state convention was an amazing way to see the fruits of our chapter’s labors and give students lessons on the value of hard work.
The chapter could not have succeeded without the contributions of the community and we are so grateful for their support. We are so thankful for the Paulding FFA Alumni and their support of our chapter. The state convention was a major success and we are looking forward to attending again next year!
