The Key to the Indiana State Fair

I have spent the last seven days working at the Corteva Agriscience FFA Pavilion at the Great Indiana State Fair. That means late nights, early mornings, (what feels like) a million plants to water, never-ending sweeping by the sandboxes, numerous cups of carrots and pellets in the animal wing, and handing out a lot of putters for fair-goers to play a round of free FFA putt putt. While this all sounds like non-stop work, it is actually quite fun.

These past seven days have challenged my ability to keep a positive mindset. When just looking at all the work I have to do each day, it does not sound very fun. However, when you forget the work and think about the kids smiling when you give them their putter, someone having their first experience feeding a farm animal, a person learning what FFA is by coming into the pavilion, or a visitor understanding how their food gets from the field to their fork by going through the Farm to Fork Corner, it becomes a much more fun place to be. Talking with the day’s Featured Farmers and getting to know the amazing FFA members working alongside me makes the Pavilion a truly rewarding place to be.

These past seven days have helped me see just how much keeping a positive mindset can transform your day. By focusing on the positive moments and letting them outweigh the negative ones, I have been able to have a blast here at the Great Indiana State Fair. I only get one chance to have the experience of working every single day here, so why not make the most of it? Even if I had this opportunity a million times, I would
still approach it like each time could be my last. By choosing to see the good, the bad becomes better and somehow I always end up with a smile on my face once again. 

It’s so hard to believe that we are already about halfway through the greatest 15 days of the summer!

Positively,

Kaitlyn Maruszewski 

2025-2026 Indiana FFA State President