(Riverton, Wyo.) – One of the joys of serving on the Riverton School Board, according to its members, is when students come to the board meeting to talk about their projects or trips. That feeling was expressed by every board member at this past week’s meeting when Rendezvous Elementary and Riverton High School students from two different classes came to the meeting.
At the start of the 7 p.m. meeting, the audience nearly filled the meeting space, with sixth graders who attended the Teton Science School in attendance, along with their parents, plus Advance Automotive students from Riverton High School, and FFA members from the RHS chapter.
For the FFA request, seeking permission to attend the National Conference in Indianapolis, Superintendent Terry Snyder noted the makeup of the members going to the conference. “I love the fact that we have so many girls involved with a female instructor,” he said.
“In my day, it was all guys.” Snyder said he was a State Farmer in FFA back in Nebraska. “FFA is a great experience, it’s a great organization and I’m sure you will have an awesome experience,” he said to the group, all sporting their distinctive blue and yellow coats. The nationals begin Oct. 20 through the 28th.
FFA sponsor Tayor Hayley said Riverton is sending 12 chapter members to the nationals, including students participating in the “Hall of States” competition and the Quiz Bowl. “It’s the 11th year in a row our Quiz Bowl team has gone to nationals,” she said. Hayley noted that the state booth Riverton is taking to nationals is a 10×10 foot booth with photos and information about Wyoming and the RHS chapter activities. “This year’s theme is Unite, so we’ll be featuring past and present members and people in our community who were involved in FFA,” she said. And such unique Wyoming items such as branding irons and an apiary smoker for calming bees. Riverton’s “State booth” was the best at the state conference and won the right to represent Wyoming at nationals. Four chaperones are also headed to the event.
The school board approved the trip, per policy.