Woodford County is home to yet another exceptional student who represents the best our school has to offer. Carolina Rhea, Vice-President of WCHS FFA, recently won the Regional FFA President title.
In her interview, Rhea expresses her gratitude toward her new position. “It’s an honor to get to serve the people in our region because there’s a lot of cool things that the officer team gets to do to make things happen.” It is the job of the regional FFA president to put together the events that make FFA the organization known for instilling leadership skills and lasting agricultural applications into members. For example, the freshman leadership conference is an integral experience for members as they further their education with FFA that gathers 9th graders from all the schools within our region. Additionally, planning the regional banquet and the regional contest day are part of the responsibility of the regional officers, lead by Woodford’s own Carolina Rhea.
Our FFA region consists of 14 schools, including several schools in surrounding counties including Western Hills, along with some in Louisville. Each school is allowed to produce only one applicant for the position. This placed Carolina in a unique spot because another student in the Woodford County chapter also wanted to run for regional office. So, they held a “local competition” which consisted of an interview process very similar to that of the actual officer application process.
A large part of running for FFA regional office is the interview conducted by a panel of delegates–typically underclassmen from another school in the region–about their FFA experience and qualifications. Their ability to answer questions determines their score, and the highest score in the interviews along with the most impressive resume wins the Presidential title, the second highest wins Vice-President, and so on.
After being chosen as her chapter’s candidate, Rhea started to focus on honing her interview abilities. “One thing that my advisors kept drilling into me was to relate it back to regional office.” Rhea explained that a large part of the preparation process was taking the challenges that she’s overcome both in her FFA career and in her personal life and illustrating how they make her a better candidate.
Rhea partly credits her success to her long-awaited dream of achieving greatness in FFA. “I think more than anything else it was the drive that I had going into it that really helped me.” She’s been waiting for the chance to run for regional office since her 6th grade year and now that she’s finally fulfilled this goal she is going to continue to reach for greater success, and not only in FFA. Carolina Rhea got third place in the written composition competition at the KAAC academic team state competition on March 17, 2025. Next year she hopes to run for FFA State Office.
Her goals for her term as regional president are to “connect with members and hopefully get some new opportunities.” Rhea said she wants to compete at the state and national level again this year. She recognizes the impact participating in FFA has had on her life and hopes to see how far it can continue to take her. She also looks forward to recruiting new members in middle school who are hoping to join the WCHS FFA chapter. “Serving as regional officer I’m gonna have even more of a range of kids that I can impact.”
Of all her stories of victory, her favorite FFA memories are the ones she spent with her fellow members. “In our chapter specifically I’ve met some of my best friends and had some of the best experiences of my life.” Our regional president also loves connecting with passionate FFA members she’s met throughout her journey.
Overall Carolina Rhea is a high-achieving member of our Woodford County family. Her success in FFA and her drive to continue to make an impact on the community is an ideal representation of the qualities we strive to teach here in Woodford County. So congratulations to our regional FFA president, and thanks to our Woodford FFA chapter for providing the place where progress is planted and success is grown.
