National FFA Week continues through Saturday, with chapters across the country celebrating agricultural education and leadership development.
At Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, FFA members marked National FFA Week with a variety of activities, including daily dress-up themes like national blue day, tractor apparel day, and officer appreciation events. The chapter recognized Greenhand and chapter degree recipients during an ice cream social, visited the elementary school for High Five Friday while greeting students in official dress, and partnered with the community to package 20,000 meals with Meals from the Heartland, with more than 6,000 staying in the community to support area food pantries.
FFA Advisor Angie Charlson has spent 24 years teaching agricultural education and advising the chapter. A former 4-H member, Charlson joined FFA as a senior, traveling from Dows Community School to Northeast Hamilton to participate — an experience she says shaped her passion for agricultural education.
“While I was at Northeast Hamilton, I had the opportunity to have an amazing advisor that took me to national convention, pushed me into contests, taught me about the ins and the outs of FFA and all the things that it could do for you. A lot of people say it’s kind of like 4-H, but it’s definitely for the older kids in a sense. So here at Clarion, we serve our high school students and so it’s an amazing opportunity for them to continue to do that and grow and being involved just with youth it was something that I always wanted to do and the tie to agriculture just made it a smart move moving into agricultural education.”
Junior Adelynn Howell, a member of the chapter, says FFA gives students valuable experiences that help them grow and prepare for the future.
“I think that kids that are in FFA are held to a higher standard of career readiness. We do a lot with record keeping. We do a lot with being able to communicate with your teachers when we’re traveling since we are out of the class a lot of the time. I think that there are just a lot of different skills that you acquire in FFA that you wouldn’t get on a regular basis. Just being in school and of course the communications is an amazing part of it. I do extemporaneous speaking which is like an unprepared speech and that has helped me a lot being able to do things like this and talk to people on the spot.”
Members and advisors say the week’s events are a reminder of how FFA prepares students to take on new challenges and make a difference both in school and beyond.
Pictured are C-G-D FFA students with members of the Consulate of the Republic of Kosovo in Des Moines during a visit in January. (left to right: FFA students Damon Fouts, Samantha Seaba, Logan Legleiter, Armando Melendez; Members of the Consulate Fatmir Rrahmanaj and Drilon Zogaj; Lea Charlson, Audrey Egland, Lydia Langfitt and Adelynn Howell)
Full interview below
