School may be out for summer vacation but if you are the Heartland FFA president, there is still work to be done. Senior, Matt Hiebner has been named our HeartlandBeat Student of the Month and he has had a very busy summer since the last day of school. In May, he attended the FFA COLT Conference (Chapter Officer Leadership Training) in Aurora where he learned how to improve his leadership, organizational and communication skills.
He hit the ground running after completing the COLT training and has led his chapter in several community service projects this summer. Hiebner has been in FFA since his freshman year and served as a junior officer last year. He really got excited about FFA and the opportunities it held for him after attending the National Convention in Indianapolis last fall. “Going to Nationals was a highlight for me as well as a blast seeing some really cool stuff. We toured a buffalo farm and got to see a John Deere manufacturing plant. There were around 50,000 kids who attended,†said Hiebner.
It’s York County Fair time so Hiebner is busy helping get the chapter’s projects ready to be loaded up and transported to the Fairgrounds. His own fair project this year is a three- point boom that he built himself and will be used on the family farm to lift and assist in all sorts of tasks. Hiebner is no stranger to a working shop since his father got him started building things at an early age. “My dad was FFA president his senior year, so I’m very happy to be a second-generation president,†said Hiebner. He lives on a farm north of Henderson with his parents Rick and Kristy Hiebner and three siblings.
Not only has Hiebner excelled in FFA but he has used his mechanical and construction skills as a member of the Heartland Drama Club. “I was the set builder for the musical last spring and took care of any mechanical problems,†said Hiebner. He also is a member of National Honor Society and Chorus and outside of school he enjoys hunting and camping.
Future plans after graduation for Hiebner include attending the University of Nebraska where he wants to pursue a degree in Applied Science in Agriculture. Congratulations to Matt for his dedication, planning and hard work even when school isn’t in session! He’s already proved he will be an excellent leader of the Heartland FFA chapter and we wish him the best.
