Simmons Desiray Simmons will represent Indiana at the 81st National FFA convention as the state's National Officer Candidate.

She was chosen by the Indiana association this past summer after going through many rigorous interviews.

A 2006 Carroll High School graduate, Simmons postponed her post secondary education to serve as the 2006-2007 Indiana FFA Northern Region Vice President.

She is currently a sophomore at Purdue University, majoring in Agricultural Education. As a Purdue student, she completed a study abroad program in Jamaica, served as Boiler Gold Rush Team leader last fall, and was selected and serves as an Ambassador for Purdue's College of Agriculture.

National FFA convention will be Oct. 22-25 in Indianapolis. On the last day of convention, six new national officers will be elected to serve a one-year term. A nine-member nominating committee will conduct interviews Oct. 19-24. Each candidate will be evaluated on his or her skills and knowledge and must demonstrate the following competencies consistently: communication, team player, areas of knowledge, organization, character, passion for success, influence and critical thinking.

Today there are 507,763 FFA members representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Each state may nominate one candidate to vie for a national office position.

Simmons is the daughter of Jeff and Michelle Simmons of Bringhurst. Steve and Melissa Keown served as her FFA advisors and mentors at Carroll High School.

Travis Martin also will be representing the Carroll chapter as a National FFA Delegate. He will be participating on committees, helping to make decisions that will affect the national organization over the next year. He was chosen after a set of interviews that he participated in during the Indiana State Fair.

Chandler Keown has been nominated to serve on the 10x15 Teacher Recruitment Task Force Focus Group sponsored by the National Association of Agriculture Educators and the National FFA. The purpose of this project is to better understand why individuals choose agricultural education as a major in college and intend to become agriculture teachers. The task force is studying this topic so future demands for highly qualified agriculture teachers can be fulfilled.

Individuals participating in the Agriscience Fair are: Maizie Wickersham, Kayleigh Bordner, Brady Wiles, Dylan Hamilton, Josh Barnes, Aaron Spesard, Jonathan Bush, Jill Griffin, and Carly Yoder. They will compete against teams and members from across the United States.