Six young people were announced as the new Minnesota FFA officer team to close out the 2024 state convention, and a little history was made along the way.

Of the six newly installed officers, three of them hail from the Grand Rapids High School FFA Chapter, marking the first time a single chapter has placed three members on a state officer team.

Grand Rapids seniors Emma Braford, vice president; Kaiya Grossman, secretary; and Victoria Gunderson, sentinel; join Lauren Stoel, president, from Murray County Central; Cole Sundeen, treasurer, from Rockford; and Natalie Clemenson, reporter, from Zumbrota-Mazeppa, on the officer team that will plan and implement FFA events across the state, and the 2025 Minnesota FFA Convention.

Prior to the announcement of the state officer team, Shawn Linder thought Grand Rapids had a chance to land one of the state officer spots, but couldn’t fathom three. Linder and Jordyn Newberg are co-advisers at Grand Rapids.

“It’s totally unbelievable. It’s like being struck by lightning,” says Linder, chapter adviser at Grand Rapids, shortly after three of his students were named to the officer team. “It’s such a special group of kids; from the time they started as freshmen, I knew they were special.”

As Linder watched these three work through leading at the chapter and regional levels, he saw that “they’ve always been willing to push the envelope on anything, and they’re always asking for more and ‘What can we do to help?’”

As success breeds success, Linder is hopeful that the example by Braford, Grossman and Gunderson will add a spark to the rest of their home chapter. “I think this will truly inspire the students who are here with us today [at state convention]. and even back home to say, ‘Hey, if they can do this, we can be successful down the road as well.”

While Linder points to the talent and drive of the students themselves, Grossman is quick to acknowledge the work of FFA advisers across the state, as well as the local support she has seen in the Grand Rapids chapter, “a big shout out to our advisers, Mr. Shawn Linder and Mrs. Jordyn Newberg, for all the help that they’ve been, and just all the supporters that we’ve had all across the state.”

Gunderson echoes the appreciation to the local community and chapter alumni for helping the officer candidates along the way.

Braford taking more of a philosophical look at this bit of FFA history. “FFA has deep roots in tradition, but that does not mean that history is not still being made to this day in the organization every single day, and it means a lot to me to be a part of an officer team where history is being made for the Grand Rapids FFA Chapter and for Minnesota FFA.”

It takes a team

Though the Grand Rapids trio made state FFA history, it takes a complete team to lead the state organization for the next year.

Stoel says being a state officer “is an amazing opportunity to get to serve members around me and help encourage them to join the amazing association and organization that is FFA.”

As state treasurer, Sundeen says “it means that I have the obligations to serve our state and serve the people of the FFA organization and continue building leadership throughout the organization.”

Being named state officer is a dream come true for Clemenson, and “it means that I have the opportunity to serve as a role model and a leader for many members across the state as well as help them feel at home and serve as an advocate for agriculture in the process.”