Mind Blown

“Christmas, Christmas, Christmas time is here! Time for joy and time for cheer!” Thanksgiving is over and December has started, which means I am officially okay with Christmas decorations, Christmas music everywhere, and some substantial snowfall. With that being said, our team greatly enjoyed Thanksgiving because that meant we had five consecutive days with our families. For me, that meant more time on the road. Even so, it was nice to relax and set our tasks lists aside. Our time at home for Thanksgiving rejuvenated our team, and we are excited to take on the rest of 2013!

Today we started the season of Business and Industry visits with a trip to Poynter Sheet Metal in Bloomington. As a new sponsor, we knew little about the company when we arrived. But we left thoroughly impressed! Our team met with Don Poynter, former owner of the company, and Joseph Lansdell, the current owner, who explained to us how the company grew from one building to the 82,000 square feet complex it is now. Poynter is now one of the top metal fabrication companies in the United States whose products range from industrial ventilation to monkey bars for orangutans at the Indianapolis zoo. Mr. Lansdell treated us to a tour of his facilities where we saw laser and plasmas cutters at work, breaks with thousands of pounds of pressure, and machines that turned flat sheet metal into circular ventilation ducts right before our very eyes. Projects that would take days in the little shop on our farm are completed in a matter of hours at Poynter. The experience was humbling for me because there I sat, talking to two men who helped to establish such an influential company, and not once did I feel any lesser than them. They are just two guys who used their intelligence and work ethic to build an empire. I think we all have something to learn from them.

Truly Humbled,

Kayla Hoenert

Indiana FFA State Secretary

From FFA: Following the Future of Agriculture