Suggestions made about an agricultural program to members of the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 administration helped create a new local organization.
According to McKena Wallentine, Green River High School’s agricultural education advisor, community members had been suggesting that starting an agricultural education program would be beneficial to GRHS students.
In 2013, Lacy Bangert, a former agricultural and Future Farmers of America advisor was hired as a new counselor. Bangert worked closely with administrators on how she felt such a program would be established.
Wallentine said in the fall of 2014, Bangert conducted a parent and student survey about supporting a program. This data convinced the administration to hire an agricultural teacher in the spring of 2015.
“Together, the community support and expertise of Miss Bangert, convinced the administration to seriously consider creating an agriculture education program,” Wallentine said.
With an agricultural program established, the district decided to take it a step further and be officially charted with the National Future Farmers of America Organization.
In October, officer selection took place. This consisted of an application process, personal interview and chapter vote. A board was formed; and GRHS students on the board are president, Kate Dickinson, vice president, Sheridan Kent, second vice president, Dakota Neumann, secretary, Ira Dickinson, treasurer, Bradly Moss, reporter, Alex Davis and sentinel, Chance Anderson.
Next, the group had to provide a complete FFA membership list, a copy of their annual program of activities and a copy of the chapter’s constitution, to the National FFA Organization.
“The chapter officers and I worked to put together our chapter constitution that will act of the governing rules of our chapter,” Wallentine said.
According to the official FFA manual, there are certain essentials in order for a chapter to be successful, including FFA knowledge, diversity of membership, sharing responsibilities, capable officers, challenging program activities, workable constitution, proper equipment and records, regular chapter meetings, adequate financing and school and community support.
Although the program is in its infancy, it already has 104 student members on the FFA membership roster.
“We have chosen to be an affiliated, dues-paying FFA chapter, which means we pay a lump sum membership fee once a year that allows every student enrolled in an agricultural education course to be an FFA member,” Wallentine said. “Being an FFA member is not a requirement, but is highly encouraged. This is awesome because if a student is unsure of FFA in their first year or two of enrollment and then they want to be able to apply for awards and scholarship in their junior and senior years, they have the ability to do so because they were on the chapter roster for all years of enrollment.”
One requirement for becoming a FFA member is students must be enrolled in an agricultural education class.
“In order to meet that requirement they have to take one of my classes and they are only offered at the high school,” she said.
Some of the classes Wallentine teaches and students can take include, introduction to agriculture and environmental science, veterinary science, natural resources management, wildlife management and animal science.
According to the website http://www.ffa.org, FFA’s mission is “FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.”
This website also states “The FFA experience is valuable to all students, regardless if they do or do not ultimately pursue agricultural careers.”
While the area doesn’t specialize in agriculture, meaning crop or animal production, that doesn’t mean there isn’t agriculture all around residents. Wallentine said agriculture encompasses everything that falls under fool, fiber and natural resources.
“Natural resources is something that is unique to our area with the trona mines, oil fields, and fish and wildlife,” she said. “We are all involved in agriculture in some way, shape or form everyday.”
Through FFA, GRHS students will have the opportunity to participate at the local, state and national levels. At the local level, the chapter officer team along with assigned committees plan and implement monthly meetings and activities. These activities must reach three categories: student development, chapter development and community development, she said.
The students have already attended a conference and is planning on attending more. They will also compete in Career Development Events, which are competitions the FFA hosts.
“Twenty-four CDEs and one activity cover job skills in everything from communications to mechanics. Some events allow students to compete as individuals, while others allow them to compete in teams,” she said.
CDEs offered in Wyoming include, agricultural issues and sales, agronomy, environment and natural resources, extemporaneous public speaking, farm mechanics and management, horse and livestock evaluation, parliamentary procedure, poultry evaluation, prepared public speaking and vet science.
Wallentine said the members have only attended one practice for this event, but will prepare more this spring. For team events, the chapter will take its best team to compete at the state convention, which takes place in April. For speaking events, students must win at the chapter level, at districts and at regionals to advance to state. If they win state, the will go to the National FFA convention in October.
“The practical skills and leadership that students gain from agricultural education and FFA are skills that will help them no matter the career pathway they decide to follow,” she said. “They are learning how to effectively communicate, problem solve, use computers and technology and work with others. We will also incorporate resume building and interviewing skills to help the students feel prepared for college or future careers or jobs. Agriculture and FFA encompass so much more than just farming and ranching.”
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