The Montgomery County and Wellsville-Middletown FFA chapters had memorable trips at the 99th Annual FFA National Convention and Expo, held Oct. 22-24 at Indianapolis.

The MCHS FFA chapter saw four students earn American Degrees and two teachers pick up Honorary American Degrees, while the W-M chapter visited plenty of places, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

A total of 25 MCHS members and 11 W-M members went to the national convention, which drew thousands of members from all over the country.

MCHS chapter members spent their first day of the convention at a rodeo. The next day, they went to a career show, saw some glass blowing and visited Prison Island, an action game that is set in an interactive prison setting. On the final day, they went to the American Degree ceremony and toured Not Just Popcorn – a small business that ships popcorn all over the world – and Poe Hamps – a family-operated farm that specializes in sheep artificial insemination.

“The kids were fantastic,” MCHS FFA co-adviser Mary Leykamp said. “The sessions were great. We got to hear some really good keynote speakers. We got to talk to a bunch of really cool people in the career show. NASA had a booth there. That was the first time I talked to a NASA scientist while at the career show. They had a bunch of lesson plans and activities that they wanted to work with FFA members on.”

MCHS graduates Dever Cope, Jonah Happe, Landon Pottebaum and Avery Ridgley received the American Degree, which is the highest honor anyone in the National FFA organization can achieve. All of them graduated in 2025.

Also, Leykamp and co-advisor Amanda Sullivan received Honorary American Degrees for their contributions to agricultural education.

Several seniors of the MCHS chapter attended the convention, including President Reed Pottebaum, Vice President Ann Rose, Secretaries Lily Hillebrand and Jillian Weekley and Reporter Olivia Spurgeon.

“It was fun,” Hillebrand said. “We got to see Miss Leykamp walk across the stage. We got to see our agricultural issues opponents walk across the stage.”

W-M chapter members started their Indianapolis trip with a tour at the Apache Sprayer Assembly Plant, which builds all of their custom sprayers. The next day, they went to Ozark Fisheries and White River Paintball. They wrapped up their trip with a visit to the Speedway as well as the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.

“This year, the seniors stated that they wanted to end their W-M R-I National FFA Convention trips with a bang,” W-M FFA adviser Courtney Ankrom said. “More tours, more activities and more time to shop. So that’s what we did.”

The W-M seniors who went to Indy were President Kara Freie, Vice President Leah Kleinsorge and Treasurer Gage Nichols.

“My favorite part of the National Convention was getting to learn about different aspects of the agriculture industry that we can not see in our community,” Kleinsorge said. “In addition, I loved exploring the expo and learning about the industry with my friends.”

Maddi Poage, a 2025 W-M graduate, was awarded an American Degree at the national convention.