I didn't know what FFA was until I came to college. Until recently, my perception of the FFA organization was that students in both high school and college can be involved, and every member wears a blue jacket. I am very well aware that is not the reality, as FFA is much more than just a blue jacket! This week does happen to be National FFA Week which is why I thought it would be appropriate to blog on this particular topic this week.
Membership
Students who want membership into FFA must be enrolled in grades 7th through 12th, and be enrolled in some sort of an agricultural education course during the academic year. The PDF specific to membership information for the state of North Dakota FFA organizations can be found here through this link.
The FFA website highlights that it is, "the largest student organization in the world" (https://www.ffa.org/join/why-join-ffa). Even after high school graduation, there are continued opportunities to be involved through collegiate chapters on various college universities, and lifelong support through adult/alumni involvement. The closest thing that I have to relate to a lifelong experience would be sorority life, which is only available to collegiate women (with a maximum of four years being an active member)- though membership/sisterhood is for a lifetime. It is easy to see why FFA members are so dedicated to the organization seeing as they have already five years of high school involvement before even coming to college.
Aside from the basic information about the organization, such as involvement, membership, the many regional/national conventions and annual events, the two categories that stand out to me the most are the leadership opportunities, and the history of FFA.
Leadership
Within the FFA organization, there are numerous ways for students to take advantage of leadership roles within their local chapter, as a state officer and even at a national level. The students that I personally know on campus that were involved in FFA in high school, are some of the best leaders that I know today. Some of the students continued to stay involved in the collegiate chapters, and others chose to join other clubs. Either way, FFA students are organized, are both efficient and effective when it comes to getting the job done, and their passion is always present. Students that have been/are involved know how to effectively run meetings through Robert's Rules of Order, which is a skill and an understanding that not many people know of, on and off campus.
History
This history of FFA is so impressive, dating back to 1928. The article explains that all 50 states, and even two US territories share charters with the national organization! FFA has impacted so much of our nation's history, such as having nearly 139,000 members serving in World War II. FFA celebrates not just agriculture, but performing arts like band, choir and talent shows. FFA has been federally recognized by several presidents and has had legislation passed in support, to even having a special stamp through the postal service. More recently in 2003, the State of North Dakota approved the FFA logo to be added as an option to the state license plates. Traditionally the only other logos at this time that were allowed were firefighters or military. Read the article here for further information.
Example of an FFA license plate
Retrieved from: http://www.licenseplatecentral.com/usa/north-dakota
What I am excited to see in the future is more of what FFA will do; not just for local communities, but for our nation. FFA in my opinion, is setting examples for our country in more ways that many of us even realize.
Top Image retrieved from: http://www.ctsos.org/ctsos/fbla/ffa-logo/
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