AASV Attends FFA National Convention

October 30, 2007 — 

For the first time, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) participated in the career show at the 80th National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention in Indianapolis, IN.

Over 50,000 participants attended this year's convention held October 24 - 27 at the Indianapolis Convention Center. The AASV booth was organized and staffed by members of the AASV Student Recruitment Committee and former FFA members (now swine practitioners) Bill Hollis, Matt Anderson and Amy Woods. Dr. Anderson and Dr. Woods both agreed to give a presentation on what it's like being a swine veterinarian during a series of presentations sponsored by AVMA.

The booth was centrally located under a large overhead banner from AVMA advertising veterinary medicine. Other veterinary groups in attendance included AABP, AVMA, AAVMC, AAEP, Michigan State College of Veterinary Medicine and the KSU College of Veterinary Medicine. It was promising to see that number of high school kids interested in agriculture and I was impressed with the interest they showed and the quality of the questions they asked. I think groups like FFA may offer our profession an opportunity to interact with students just at the time they're starting to make career decisions.

Thanks again to Jason Kelly for organizing the effort, Jen Greiner and Amy Woods for setting up and tearing down the booth, and Bill Hollis, Amy Woods and Matt Anderson for offering their time to help man the booth and give presentations.