COVINGTON — Austin Beard, a member of the Effingham County High School FFA chapter, began his term as the Area 4 junior representative on Aug. 1-2, when the Georgia FFA area officers met for the Area Officer Training Conference.

Forty-eight new area officers from six areas of the state attended the two-day training conference held at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center near Covington. The objective was to orient the new officers to their position as area leaders.

Each area team met with a member of their regional agricultural education staff, as well as the Georgia FFA leadership program specialist, FFA executive secretary, and state FFA advisor to discuss their roles and responsibilities. The officers explored their decision making process, developed a team philosophy of leadership, discovered what it means to be an ambassador for the FFA, and began setting goals for the coming year.

Throughout the school year, Beard and his fellow officers will have the opportunity to represent Area 4 FFA members at a variety of teachers meetings, career development events, leadership conferences and area training activities.

The first assignment given to the new area officers was the FFA Day at the Fair program. On Oct. 7, more than 2,000 middle school students will meet in Perry to attend FFA Day at the Georgia National Fair. Their hosts for the event will be the area officers. Each officer team has been charged with creating booths and displays that showcase the benefits of FFA and agricultural education.