MFE/ALA Recap 2026!

Written by Sienna Worden February 19th 2026

On January 11-12, 2026, our San Luis Obispo FFA chapter took a large group of students to the ALA and MFE conference, located in Monterey, CA. These conferences brought together FFA members from across the state for two days of leadership development and personal growth.

The ALA conference, which stands for Advanced Leadership Academy, is designed for juniors and seniors to learn and develop their leadership skills. Throught the conference members participated in team activities and leadership workshops and had conversations that challenged them to step out and talk to new people I asked a couple of our members who attended ALA  their favoirte part, and here is what they said: “I loved getting to meet other people from around California who are involved in FFA and learning about what they liked about the program” - Stella Wettlaufer  “My favoirte thing was how connected I felt to other attendees” - Ethan Ortega. Those experiences are just a small part of the new skills and memories that were made.

Made for Excellence (MFE) is geared more towards younger members, focusing on personal growth and leadership development. Students learned about goal setting, time management, confidence, and how to become a better leader in their chapter, school, and community. I spoke to one of our members, Brynn Maksoudian, and she said, “I learned that to be a leader you need to lead others by example, encouraging them as well to be leaders.”

Overall, attending ALA and MFE was a great experience for our chapter, with lots of fun memories made. Members returned home with new friendships and leadership skills that they will carry with them throughout their lives and apply to our FFA chapter. We are so excited to see what the future holds for these members and future leaders!