Union FFA’s Livvy Sturm named Oregon’s national officer candidate

Union's Livvy Sturm moved from state leadership in Oregon FFA to the edge of the organization’s national stage, giving Union County a rare chance to claim a student leader with a path to Indianapolis.

On April 10, Oregon FFA named Sturm the state’s candidate for the 2026 National FFA officer team. The selection marked a major step in the FFA leadership pipeline, because each state FFA association may submit only one national officer candidate each year, and those candidates go through an extensive interview process with the National FFA Officer Nominating Committee.

Sturm had already spent the 2025-2026 year serving as Oregon FFA state vice president. Her rise to that post was competitive in its own right: in 2025, she was one of 10 students who ran for the Oregon FFA state officer team and one of just two who made the cut. That kind of climb underscores how selective the organization’s leadership track can be, even before a student reaches the national level.

Her credentials also stretch back to chapter work in Union. Sturm earned her Oregon FFA state degree in 2024 alongside 10 other members of the Union chapter, another sign that her candidacy was built on steady involvement rather than a single breakout moment. For a small community where agriculture remains closely tied to school life and future opportunity, that matters. A student from Union now stands among the state’s top FFA leaders and carries the local chapter’s name into a national selection process.

The next stop is the 2026 National FFA Convention, scheduled for Oct. 21-24 in Indianapolis. There, the National FFA Organization will select six student members to serve as national officers for one year. Those officers represent the organization in local, state, national and international activities, and they help lead leadership-training conferences and shape policy for FFA’s future. In 2025, the national officer team was chosen from 37 candidates, a reminder that Sturm’s opportunity comes through a narrow and highly competitive field.

Sturm’s national candidacy also builds on a strong showing for Eastern Oregon at the 97th annual Oregon FFA State Convention in Redmond in March 2025, where Alex Wise of Baker City was elected president and Sturm was elected vice president. The next state convention is scheduled for March 19-22, 2026, at the Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center in Redmond, keeping Oregon FFA leadership close to home before the national convention later in the year. For Union, Sturm’s ascent is more than a title. It is evidence that a small chapter can still produce students ready to compete, lead and represent Oregon on a national stage.