Seven College of Education students contributed to the recent success experienced by Auburn University's Collegiate FFA chapter at the 82^nd National FFA Convention  .

In all, 14 Auburn University Collegiate FFA members attended the October convention in Indianapolis and competed in national competitions. The College of Education students who participated in the event were agriscience education graduate student John Wilson, senior Ben Johnson, senior Jay Gibson, senior Richard Dorman, junior Bruce Davis, junior Andrew Talley and sophomore Bradley Cox. Johnson, Gibson, Dorman, Davis, Talley and Cox are all agriscience education majors.

Members of Auburn's Collegiate FFA chapter stood out at the 82nd National FFA Convention.

Johnson helped Auburn's chapter capture first place in the parliamentary procedure competition. Wilson, Cox and Talley helped lead the debate team to a second place finish. Davis and Gibson contributed to the Quiz Bowl team's fourth place finish. Auburn's FFA chapter received the A.W. Nolan Leadership Award at the "gold'' level, acknowledging its ascent to the level of national leaders in the last two years.

The College of Agriculture was also well represented by its students - Lauren Lewis, James Paul Bailey, Caleb Colquitt and Mary Catherine Lewis - in the team competitions. Lauren Lewis led the parliamentary procedure team.

Dr. Brian Parr, assistant professor of agriscience education in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching, also attended the convention and used the occasion as an opportunity for student recruitment. Parr and the Collegiate FFA members set up an agriscience education booth in an effort to advertise Auburn's program to prospective undergraduate students and to recruit agriculture teachers for the graduate level distance learning program.

"This is a collaborative effort between our colleges,'' Parr said.

The National FFA Convention, held in October, drew more than 55,000 attendees. Founded as the Future Farmers of America, the organization changed its name in 1988 to better reflect the scientific, business and technological aspects of agriculture.