Meet the 2024-2025 Junior Advisory Council

By Lura Roti

During South Dakota Farmers Union Leadership Camp, Brooke LaMont, LizBeth Crosby, Billy Kezena and Cadence Konechne were elected by campers to serve on the Junior Advisory Council (JAC) and campers Julian Rodriguez and Chase Blotsky were selected through an interview to also serve as JACs.

As JACs, these teens will help facilitate the upcoming Farmers Union State Youth Camp and they will also plan, organize and facilitate the 2025 Farmers Union State Leadership Camp.

Read on to get to know these young leaders.

Cadence Konechne is a junior at Kimball High School and lives on her family farm near Kimball.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? Farmers Union has definitely made me a stronger leader. And because of JACs who were kind to me, camp speakers I learned from and experiences I have had at camp, I am a much more confident and outgoing person. Also, while serving as a JAC last year, I was forced to take on leadership roles which pushed me outside my comfort zone and built my confidence.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? I learned to work better with people and get over issues without causing drama. Involvement in camp also taught me how to work with different personality types and consider individual’s personality type when I work with them.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? Because Farmers Union Camp has done so much for me, I want to continue to be involved and help younger campers have a similar experience as I did.

Chase Blotsky is a sophomore at Winner High School. He lives on his family’s ranch near Hidden Timber.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? By serving as a member of a cooperative during camp each year I have learned to work as a team to make our cooperative successful.

It has also helped me overcome my shyness and become confident in meeting new friends.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? I am a better communicator because of Junior Advisory Council members from the past who made a point to go out of their way to get to know me and make me feel comfortable at camp. This helped me not to feel nervous about meeting people at camp.

And at camp, we are all expected to participate in activities, like public speaking, even if speaking in public is not what we feel comfortable doing.

Also, I learned through camp activities how to compromise if there are two different opinions.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? As a JAC I want to help make camp fun for everyone and help the kids who are shy like me come out of their shell.

LizBeth Crosby is a senior at T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? Ultimately camp helped me find myself. Before attending camp, I was so shy and timid, in school and my own community. At camp I found myself, and I began to feel comfortable with who I was.

Me gaining confidence had a lot to do with how kind the other campers and JACs were to me, and the fact that when you are at camp, you are interacting with campers of all ages who come from different backgrounds and communities in South Dakota.

Today, I am a vibrant, outgoing and creative person who serves as president of NAHS (National Art Honors Society) and Art Club – I credit Farmers Union Camp.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? Relationship building, communication and social skills.

While at camp, we are encouraged to make friends with campers we don’t know. And every year the JACs and other campers change, so I learned how to adapt to change and meet new people every year. This taught me to not be afraid to talk to people casually or professionally, like doing interviews.

This bravery has helped me be someone who can ask my teachers for help or feedback when I need to.

I will also say that camp has taught me to look at things in a positive way.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? I want to give back. The JACs who served in the past made camp such an awesome experience for me and all the other campers, that I want to give back and help do the same for next year’s campers.

Billy Kezena is homeschooled and a junior in high school. He lives in Yankton.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? Farmers Union has helped connect me to the outdoors. I’ve been going to camp for a while, and at Leadership Camp we start most mornings with a hike, and after I got home, I found myself wanting to do more outdoors. So today, I find myself doing more outdoor stuff like fishing and biking on the trails and walks.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? At camp we work in groups a lot – KP duty, our cooperatives, games – by working with so many different campers in so many different groups, I have gained teamwork skills. Camp also taught me how to bring up topics and debate things in a friendly way.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? I think it will be fun to help plan the camp and I will work to make sure camp is a fun experience for campers. I know that when I was first going to camp, I had a couple friends who were campers and they were getting old enough to run for counselor. I really enjoyed having them as my camp counselor.

Julian Rodriguez is a junior at Langford High School.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? Camp has made me a better person because it has taught me how to communicate better with people I did not know. Also it gave me the opportunity to experience the other side of the state. I had never been to the western side of the state until I went to camp.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? I have always been able to talk to just about anyone, but because of camp, now I am able to go up front and talk in front of a group of people I have never met before.

Also, through camp I have learned how to be a mentor to younger campers. This is my second year at Leadership Camp so the younger campers in my room looked up to me to help them figure out camp.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? I wanted to be a JAC because when I look back at my first year at camp, when I did not know anyone outside my cabin, if it had not been for Chaz Blotsky, who was a JAC, I would not have wanted to meet anyone outside my cabin.

He encouraged me to meet other campers. Just like Chaz helped me, I want to help other campers.

Brooke LaMont is a junior at Sturgis Brown High School. She lives on her family’s ranch near Union Center.

How has Farmers Union Camp made you a better person? Farmers Union has made me a better person by helping me develop more confidence and become more outgoing. It has also allowed me to dedicate myself to helping others when they need it. Helping others is something I have always believed in.

Sometimes people just need someone to help get them through a tough time. I am happy to be this person.

Can you share some of leadership skills you gained through camp? Camp has taught me how to communicate more effectively with my peers. I have also learned to be more adaptable in situations, problem solve and to be accountable for my actions and actions of the team. Camp has also given me a strong growth mindset.

A growth mindset is when you take a bad situation and turn it around for the better – not just for yourself but for your peers and those who look up to you.

Why do you want to serve on the Junior Advisory Council? I wanted to serve as a JAC to help campers become the best version of themselves, just as JACs and fellow campers have done for me. I want to help plan camp and give kids the same fun and educational environment.