Future Farmers of America, better known as the FFA, is made up of students in Mrs. Sarah Welty’s class. The leaders of the club, picked by Welty, are the students that are most qualified to lead it. The FFA is an organization as well as a club, which contributes to the fundraisers that are run by the leaders of the FFA .They sell plants and food for money.
Kaitlyn Wyatt, a Senior at Oakdale High School, claims, “A lot of the exhibits are created by FFA members and the 4-H members”
The 4-H and FFA clubs are similar, but while FFA ranges from the ages: 14 or 15 to 21, 4-H is the younger kids, ranging from ages: 5-18. Most of the time, kids will start in 4-H.
The Fair is included in the club. When a student is in one of the agriculture classes in the spring, they can participate in projects that are entered into the fair. Students can get in for free with a wristband. The money earned in the fair winnings is invested into the club.
Hannah Konde, a Senior at Oakdale High School, and Wyatt are both leaders in the FFA club, with Konde being the president and Wyatt as the Vice President. As president, Konde has lots of responsibility, this includes planning out ideas during every meeting. As Vice President, Wyatt’s job is to help the president and make sure everyone in the club feels welcomed.
At the end of the fair Welty or a leader of the club will hand out certificates for joining the club; this is for the first year members on stage. This is something no other club at Oakdale does at the moment.
In Welty’s Horticulture or Pre-vet classes the classes are eligible for full membership which allows them to participate on the chapter, regional, state, and national levels. Those without a plant and/or animal sciences course may still join and participate but only have eligibility on the chapter (OHS) level.
If, in one of her classes, a student receives ribbons from the projects they did for the fair; a few projects are bows, ribbons, bow books, and as well as a few other projects that were sent in by Welty. Konde mentioned, ¨{Carn Corsage} is interesting because our projects it’s based around agriculture.” Carn corsage, a project in horticulture, is using fake florals to create a corsage.
The fair holds animals that go into her pre-vet classes. The animals there are mostly large-animals, such as cows and pigs. The animals related to her Pre-vet classes by knowing how to look for injuries , knowing what to feed them , and showing them at the fair. while with her agriculture classes it’s about plants and knowing how to take care of them. The other projects in the youth building are done by the classes like the ones that Welty does in different schools as well as the FFA members..
Overall, FFA and the class tie together to make a huge interest in plants or animals between members and classmates in the classes.There might be an interest you can share and explore more about them in the fair or in one of the classes.
