Natalie Wright was tabbed as the Bayfield High School FFA Chapter’s first-ever state officer earlier this summer, one of 10 such slots.
The 10 state officers entering the 2024-25 school year were selected June 7 at the Colorado State FFA Convention in Pueblo, according to a news release on the Bayfield School District’s website.
Wright, a 2024 BHS graduate, was one of 25 candidates competing for one of the positions. Candidates went through a “strenuous week of interviews and activities” under the eyes of the nine-member nominating committee, the release said.
“Kids who are running for a state office are assigned duties, and it is a weeklong job interview,” Bayfield High School Agriculture Education Instructor and FFA Advisor Bobbi Hanhardt said in the release. “They’re observed to see how the team will work together and fit together so they will be able to put together the best team available.”
Wright said in the release that questions the committee asked were “very intense” because they wanted to see the character of candidates.
In between interviews, candidates are expected to perform their duties, participate in activities and network with other members.
“You don’t get much sleep in those days, and you’re walking in heels everywhere so it gets kind of exhausting,” she said in the release. “You’re also not allowed to speak to the nominating committee members unless they’re off duty, so I avoided them like the black plague because I didn’t want to get in trouble.”
Wright first joined the FFA her freshman year when her brother Guy joined to judge livestock. She initially wanted to try high school activities like theater, but she became more proactive with FFA during her junior year, the release said.
Wright applied for and completed a state FFA degree entering her senior year in 2023, and she became eligible to apply for the state officer role, Hanhardt said in the release.
Because Wright was chosen as a state officer, she had to put off going to college to live and work with the nine other team members, the release said. They will spend the next year serving Colorado’s FFA members and acting as ambassadors for the state’s agriculture industry.
Aside from attending stock shows and farm shows, the 10 state officers will take part in the National FFA Convention at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at the end of October.
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
