The American Future Farmers of America (FFA) Degree has been awarded to four students on campus. The awarded recipients are Ashley Strehl, Becky Klenn, J.C. Wells and Tiffany Weber.
Ethan Sacket along with his team, won the National Marketing Plan CDE from FFA. The Marketing Plan CDE has three participants per team, and teams are scored as a group. In this program teams must develop and present a marketing plan for a current agricultural product, supply or service.
The American FFA Degree is awarded at the National FFA Convention & Expo each year. The award is for those who made significant accomplishments in their supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs).
It also signifies those who showed the highest level of commitment to FFA. And to make the award even more prestigious less than 1% of FFA members are actually awarded the degree. This makes the American FFA Degree one of the organization’s highest honors.
Strehl said her role was secretary off her FFA chapter. “I’m now officially an alumni along with the others,” Strehl said. Strehl said that she has learned some valuable lessons through her experiences with FFA. “Thanks to FFA, I have valuable leadership skills,” Strehl said. “I know how to carry myself in a respectful and professional way because of my experiences through FFA.”
Wells said his role in the Laverne FFA Chapter was just as a member but he chose to stay in that role instead of running for office because he led better from behind the scenes. “I was active more so in the classroom,” Wells said. “…yet I competed in such activities as Land and Range Judging, extemporaneous speech, and quiz bowl.”
Wells’ experiences include getting to broaden his horizons through various activities and competitions. “I’ve met a lot of great people through the FFA, who I probably would not have met otherwise,” Wells said. “Without the FFA, I would have never received a national award.”
Wells said he would have never drove 792 miles one way, to experience a city that he would have never considered going to before. “It was quite an experience to go through the process of receiving my American FFA Degree, which included driving to Indianapolis early one Friday morning,” Wells said. “The FFA may just be an organization to some, but to many, including myself, it was a life changing experience.”