(TRENTON) –  Five counties from around the state are represented in the 2018-2019 State FFA officer team that was elected as part the 89^th Annual State FFA Convention. The state officers represent New Jersey FFA at several state and national functions throughout the year, including visiting FFA chapters all around the state.

The new officers with the chapters they represent are Josh Loew (Cumberland Regional), State President; Jamie Specca (Northern Burlington), State Vice-President; Kaitlyn Tallamy, (Phillipsburg); State Treasurer; Jacob Newkirk, (Cumberland Regional), State Parliamentarian; Brittany Smith, (Warren Hills), State Secretary; Susan Schmidt, (Allentown), State Reporter; Christine Albrecht, (Cape May Tech), State Sentinel.

“Being a state officer is a tremendous honor, but it also brings a lot of responsibility,” said New Jersey State FFA Advisor and Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Education Program Leader Nancy Trivette. “As we are each year, we are confident these officers will be excellent ambassadors for FFA throughout New Jersey and nationally as well.”

Some of the state officer duties include assisting chapters in the execution of their program of activities; encouraging FFA members to participate in food, agriculture and natural resources education and FFA programs; maintaining positive relations with members, the agribusiness sector, the public and others interested in agricultural education; traveling to FFA chapters around the state 2-3 times per month; assisting at career development events, including fall, spring, and summer; and representing the New Jersey FFA Association at events of other state agricultural organizations.

FFA is a component of a food, agriculture and natural resources program of instruction that prepares students to pursue fulfilling careers in the business, science, education and technology of agriculture. There are more than 2,500 FFA members in 36 chapters in New Jersey and 653,359 members in 8,568 chapters across the nation. 

For more information about New Jersey Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Education and the state FFA program visit http://www.jerseyageducation.nj.gov/.  Also keep up to date with New Jersey FFA news on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NJFFA/, Twitter at https://twitter.com/NJFFA and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/newjerseyffa.

For information about the national FFA program visit https://www.ffa.org/home.

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