Day 1
The AQHYA YES (Youth Excellence Seminar) conference in Amarillo, Texas, begins tonight with an introduction of candidates from the 9 regions. We will kick things off with skits from the O’s (Officers) and D’s (Directors) and a keynote speaker.
The O’s and D’s have been here since Tuesday preparing for everyone to arrive. Skits have been practiced, activities have been planned, and leadership skills built by AQHA Youth Department.
Retiring speeches will be given over the three day conference by this year’s officer team pictured to the left is Zane Pluhar – President (standing), left to right Cait Kerber – Sentinel, Jocelyn Tanner – Secretary, Brent Dorn (that’s me) – Treasurer and Eric Bramow – Vice President.
Friday morning will start the day with a key note speaker, sessions concerning the youth in AQHYA, and the election of the Directors for 2009-2010. The keynote speakers always deliver youth messages that pertain to our life now and tied back to the Quarter Horse Industry. On Saturday the new officer team for AQHYA will be elected by the voting delegates from each state. The finale on Saturday night is our favorite – the dance.
If you have never traveled to Amarillo to the YES conference it’s something you need to experience. You meet new people from all over the country that you would never have the opportunity to meet. You stay up all night, you drive your chaperones crazy, and eat at TGIF at all hours.
Day 2
Today in Amarillo we started the day off early with a trip to the City Civic Center. We heard from AQHA’s own Don Treadway. Then as an officer, I gave my retiring address and showed a slideshow. We then heard from two different speakers who taught about different aspects of leadership. We played a couple games that helped us to better understand leadership and how it works.
Later we split into regions for elections. In my region there were only three candidates for three positions. Ariel Herrin, Rachel Pendergraft, and myself were reelected to our director positions for Region 9. A good friend of mine, Cait Kerber, our Sentinel, then gave her retiring address and slideshow.
Pictured left are Officers and Directors after we did a skit of America’s
Top Model. Left to right is Brent as the emcee, and the rest were the
models dressed as animals. Eric Bramow was the winner dressed as a
flamingo.
The directors also performed a skit from Whose Line Is It Anyway. While we waited for the buses to give us a ride back to the hotel we had quite a good time. We played some different games to get to know each other better. We even played Simon Says and had a dance off between the male directors. Then we all came to the hotel to change for the meeting at the Hall Of Fame. The president, Zane Pluhar, gave his retiring address and slideshow at the Hall of Fame. The other officers and I received our Belt Buckles for the past year. Zane also announced the results of the elections from earlier today. We just got back from the Hall Of Fame and are about to go for a swim. Look for officer election results tomorrow.
Day 3
We started off to the convention center early on Friday morning. Officers had to go over at 6:45 to set up for the morning session with Stewart Kennedy. He turned out to be a great speaker. He taught us how to set goals and to keep our priorities straight. He did it through an activity that will make us think outside of the box.
We were to be entrepeneurs developing a mattress company. It turned out to be pretty funny. We were in teams of ten, we only could use 8 balloons and our left hand. Our goal was to make a mattress that would hold the tallest person on our team. We had to blow up the balloons and tie them using only one hand. The pictures are pretty funny!
We were all amazed that it actually worked, one team was able to lower three people on top of each other and lay on eight balloons. Our entrepeneur skills and thinking outside of the box were definitely developed through this activity.
The afternoon brought the election of our Regional Directors. I will post a list of the new directors tomorrow.
At 4:00 we were able to tour the AQHA headquarters, executive offices, and the AQHA Museum. A lot of the youth directors brought their world show entries and turned them in as they were touring.
Everyone is running on little or no sleep! We are having a great time in Amarillo. If you have never came to YES you really need to check it out next year! We are looking forward to the dance Saturday night.
Day 4
The elections happened today for our executive committee and closing activities were concluded with Stewart Kennedy.
Congratulations to new AQHYA President, Cait Kerber! I was elected Vice President, thanks to everyone for that. Jocelyn Tanner is Secretary, Allison Cerassoni is the Treasurer and Rachel Pendergraft was elected Sententinal.
The highlight of the evening of course is the lua and dance. Burgers and dogs were served, the new Officer team was introduced and the luau began. We had a great time! The youth of AQHYA should really try to come next year. The future of AQHA is us. It’s never too late to get involved and speak up!
Last Day
The YES is over and everyone is tired. As the parent chaperones left it was time for the new O’s and D’s to get down to work. The plan for the first day is to go to Ceta Canyon Ropes Course in Canyon, TX. It always promises to be a very exciting day for the newbies of the bunch. But, the folks who have been there and done that are looking forward to it.
Click here to read AQHYA’s Guide To Campaigning.
