Organization growing leaders
By Jason Arndt
Editor
When some people hear about FFA, they often only envision farming. But area high school students said there is more to the national organization than just this portion of agriculture.
The students – who attend Waterford, Union Grove and Burlington – look to convey all aspects of agriculture during National FFA Week, which is set to begin Saturday and run for eight days.
National FFA Week, according to the national organization, serves as a time to celebrate the role agriculture plays in everyday lives while sharing the message of agricultural education.
In total, more than 653,000 FFA members will participate in a host of activities to raise awareness about agriculture and agricultural education.
Senior Courtney Uhlenhake, president of the Burlington High School chapter, states the FFA not only fosters agricultural learning, it helps create better leaders.
“We are just trying to promote agriculture throughout the school and just trying to get a larger message about FFA to other students,” said Uhlenhake, an FFA member since she was a freshman. “It is not all about farming; it is more about growing leaders and promoting the image of agriculture.”
Meanwhile, at Waterford, where senior Ally Lemieux serves as chapter president, the school has more than 60 members.
Lemieux, like Uhlenhake, joined FFA when she was a freshman and said the organization has changed her life.
“I joined FFA as a freshman and it opened up many opportunities for me,” Lemieux said. “It also helped me become a better leader. It opened my eyes.”
Union Grove FFA Vice President Kelsey Henderson, a junior, believes FFA has ignited her passion for agriculture and created a career path for her once she graduates from high school.
“FFA has really impacted my life and it has given me my passion for agriculture,” she said. “It has made me want to pursue a degree in agriculture when I go to college.”
School, community activities
Burlington FFA adviser Katie Hagemann noted that most of her chapter’s weekly activities only pertain to Burlington High School.
“The main event we have going on outside of the high school would be our Culver’s Scoopie Night from 5 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 18,” she said, adding it is the Burlington location.
Each FFA chapter plans to hold dress-up days, conduct lunchtime activities and have donation drives.
Uhlenhake reports her chapter will have several activities, including, but not limited to, musical chairs and hay bale throwing and milk chugging contests.
Lemieux’s chapter will collect change at all lunch periods with proceeds benefiting Easter Seals.
Additionally, Waterford’s activities include an apple pie eating contest, kiss the calf or sheep along with dress-up days, like camo and blaze orange and flannel on Monday.
Waterford’s Scoopie Night, meanwhile, is scheduled for Feb. 19 at the Burlington Culver’s.
While Union Grove will have similar activities as Burlington and Waterford, plans to head out into the community through a Thank a Farmer campaign.
“We went and thanked them for all of the hard work that they do,” Henderson said. “It is a really good opportunity to get out there and talk to the farmers, and it is so cool to see everything on their farm.”
The campaign, Henderson said, started last year when Union Grove restarted its FFA program after a half-century hiatus.
“The last time we had FFA was in the 1960s, and another cool thing is, when we go out to see the farmers, we have a lot a farmers in our community that were part of Union Grove FFA when they were in high school,” Henderson said.
Promoting Agriculture
National FFA Week has been held annually since 1948, when the National FFA Board of Directors designated the weeklong tradition, which looks to convey all agriculture-related topics.
The National FFA states on its website that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting; it involves science, business and more.
“We do a lot of different events throughout the week to promote agriculture and FFA throughout the community, in our school, in our classes and in many different ways,” Henderson said.
Looking to the future
Uhlenhake said she plans to continue agricultural education at Iowa State University in Ames next fall.
Uhlenhake, who noted the FFA has bolstered her leadership skills with some traits she acquired at national conferences.
“I have attended leadership conference and it has helped me grow as a leader in agriculture,” she said. “It definitely has created a path for me in the field of agriculture because I will be attending Iowa State University next year in agricultural communications.”
For Lemieux, she takes great enjoyment in watching others grow before her, notably some who were not exposed to agriculture previously.
“What I love about FFA is seeing other kids who don’t have an agriculture background find that they love it,” Lemieux said. “FFA is for everybody.”
-
-
-
-
-