It's turning out to be a banner year for Manning High School alumni DeShawn Blanding.
Now serving as one of six college students heading the 2016-17 National FFA Officer team, he was recently presented with the Key to the City by Manning Mayor Julia Nelson during a banquet held in his honor at the F.E. DuBose Center.
Blanding is only the second student from Clarendon County receive the distinction of serving as a National FFA officer, the previous having been elected in the 1960s. He was elected in October to serve as the southern region vice-president. He is a biological and natural resources engineering major at North Carolina A&T State University.
"It is always an honor to acknowledge outstanding hometown sons and daughters," said Nelson. "We all here in Manning know what an outstanding person DeShawn Blanding is. And it's quite evident today that the nation knows by the fact that he has won this election that hasn't been won by a Clarendon individual on the national level in about 50 years."
Blanding was selected as one of six out of 42 students nationwide to run for office. He joins students from Delaware, Florida, Minesota, New York and Texas in the role.
Each year at the National FFA Convention and Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers. Delegates elect a president, secretary, and vice presidents representing the central, southern, eastern and western regions of the country.
National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders, thousands of FFA members and teachers, corporate sponsors, government and education officials, state FFA leaders, the general public, and more. The team will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.
David Townsend, an agricultural and natural resources and plant science major at the University of Delaware, was elected president. This is the first time the state of Delaware has had a national FFA president. Victoria Harris, a biology major at the University of Florida, will serve as secretary. Trey Elizondo, a science and agricultural communications major at Texas A&M, will serve as western region vice president.
Ashley Willits, an agricultural education major at Tarleton State University, was elected eastern region vice-president; and Valerie Earley, an agricultural communications major at the University of Minnesota, will serve as central region vice-president.
