Ben Gibson, a member of the Sonoraville FFA chapter, began his term as the Northwest Georgia FFA President on August 3-4, when the Georgia FFA area officers met for the Area Officer Training Conference.

Forty-eight new area officers from six areas of the state attended the two-day training conference held at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center near Covington.

The objective was to orient the new officers to their position as area leaders. Each area team met with a member of their regional agricultural education staff, as well as the Georgia FFA leadership program specialist, FFA executive secretary, and state FFA advisor to discuss their roles and responsibilities.

The officers explored their decision making process, developed a team philosophy of leadership, discovered what it means to be an ambassador for the FFA, and began setting goals for the coming year.

Throughout the school year, Ben and his/ fellow officers will have the opportunity to represent Northwest Georgia FFA members at a variety of teachers meetings, career development events, leadership conferences and area training activities.

The first assignment given to the new area officers was the FFA Day at the Fair program. On Oct. 9, more than 1,500 middle school students will meet in Perry to attend FFA Day at the Georgia National Fair.

Their hosts for the event will be the Area Officers. Each officer team has been charged with creating booths and displays that showcase the benefits of FFA and agricultural education.

Next spring, each Area Officer team will be responsible for conducting their respective Area banquet and award assemblies. The officers will also serve as courtesy corps at the 85th State FFA Convention in Macon on April 25-27, 2013.

The Georgia FFA Association has a membership of more than 34,000.