We will be starting out the week with two of our officers doing morning announcements at our school each day, where they will be announcing facts about agriculture/FFA and promoting our program. Tuesday we will be having an Ag. Career dress up day, where the members will get to dress up as their future career in the Ag industry. During lunch that day there will be a kiddy tractor race around the school.

Wednesday is Hillbilly Dress-Up Day, with a food eating contest at lunch. Thursday’s theme is dress like your Ag teacher day, where the members will be able to dress like Ms. Calac or Mr. Orique for the day. The best look alike will win a prize at the lunch competition.

Finally, Friday is Blue and Gold day, so we will be dressed up in our FFA gear, with a chance for extra fun by wearing your FFA uniform to school. In addition to wearing blue and gold, the Chapter is providing lunch to its members to help celebrate FFA week and the fun.

At the end of the week each class period will be judged and scored on their involvement and creativity, followed by picking a winning class where they will receive a class party with their choice of activity for the day. We have many exciting and fun things planned for FFA week and we are super excited to see all of our members getting involved in the fun!

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Yet, as I am now an agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor myself, I find that I look deeper at my experience. I compare my experience to that of my students. Though we are separated by nearly 15 years, many aspects remain the same. Students still recite the creed and motto, while engaging in the meaningful authentic learning that characterizes agricultural education and FFA.

But, what strikes me the most is that two things still ring true to me. First the relationships forged in this organization are some of the strongest I have ever encountered. One may call them life shaping. Second, all of the great learning, accomplishments and experiences our members and students encounter can be traced back to two simple words, “I believe.”

When I am asked about my experience in FFA I always respond with the same opening line, “every good thing in my life has happened because of FFA.” This is a strong statement, especially since I wasn’t a troubled kid searching for a place to belong. I wasn’t a leader looking for a group to lead. Moreover, I never even planned to be an agricultural education teacher. Still, FFA has impacted me beyond compare. So, I have to ask myself, “Why?” What was the meaningful impact? The simple answer is relationships.

FFA has fostered more meaningful relationships in my life than any other organization or experience I have encountered. These relationships are forged through learning, hard work, and a passion for the agricultural industry. My friends from FFA, who were fellow officers, judging team members, and partners in crime, remain close to this day. They have supported me emotionally; they have encouraged me professionally, and will even stand next to me when I get married next year.

These are truly lifelong friendships, however they are not limited to just high school friends. I still count my high school FFA advisor as one of my closest friends. I have a deep respect for him forged from the years working with him to start and grow a program. This cooperation and respect only deepened while teaching with him in Colorado. Once again, FFA fostered a lifelong relationship that has helped me achieve professionally, and supported me emotionally when needed.

Moreover, these relationships put learning in context. Being a teacher, I have to wear that hat from time to time. The most memorable lesson learned through FFA are the ones I experienced with my friends, judging teams, or other officers. I now strive to incorporate these elements of relationships in my own teaching.

As a result, my students refer to each other as a family. They work harder to support each other, just as I did for my fellow members when I was in FFA. My students also devote themselves to the chapter and an idea of something greater than themselves.  This is evident in the hard work they have exhibited farming our school farm, building flight pens for our pheasant project, or just putting in extra effort at the farm to support the teachers or fellow students. This element is something unique to FFA.

The other great experience of my time in FFA can be summed up by the words “I believe.” The belief in oneself that FFA instills is monumental. I have persevered through personal tragedies and hard times because of this belief instilled through FFA. It has given me the confidence to pursue opportunities, and seek something more.

FFA opened up an opportunity for me to attend college in Texas on a judging scholarship. Without the confidence and belief fostered from FFA, I may not have pursued this chance. Fast forward to 2014, the same belief brought me to California and eventually the Corcoran FFA Chapter. I am excited to see where the next opportunity and belief in myself takes me.

I can see this same belief being instilled in my FFA members. I have witnessed quiet students rise to leadership roles. I have seen students become great advocates for themselves and others. I have experienced our students become champions of agriculture, our heritage in the program, and for the traditions of the FFA. In a community like Corcoran that is easily characterized as a community with limited opportunities, I am heartened to see students gain skills that will take them beyond their situations and circumstances.

Moreover, the belief in something greater than oneself is also critical. There is no coincidence that each paragraph of the creed begins with “I believe.” This belief in something bigger, whether it is “the future of agriculture…” or “leadership from ourselves and respect from others…” creates a sense of grit and perseverance in my students. It’s a trait I recognize in myself from my time in FFA, and one I am pleased to pass on to those who look up to me.

This organization has shaped my life and not in a clichéd aspect, but rather in the very fiber of my being. It has shaped me the way that a farmer shapes a field, seeding a belief and moral fiber within me; a seed that was nurtured and watered through experiences and relationships, something that way harvested years after I left its membership.

FFA has profoundly impacted me. It has been the greatest experience of my life opening the same opportunity to others.

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Strathmore’s Ag Department has growing Floral and Ornamental Horticulture (OH) departments. We are currently in the process of building three 40 x 60-foot greenhouses, an aquaponics unit, and our 40-foot long CropBox.

We are hoping to have all of the buildings up and running in the next few months on the 12 acres of land, Strathmore High School purchased last year.

Aquaponics is the marriage of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together in one integrated system.

The fish waste provides an organic food source for the growing plants and the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in.

A CropBox is pretty much a farm within a shipping container. A CropBox has the benefit of growing many different crops where you can monitor and maintain everything, without happening to worry about pests, or horrible weather.

It helps students observe how each crop grows and teaches them how to maintain and care for the crop. CropBox is a part of Williamson Greenhouses in North Carolina. According to the company website, a CropBox uses “90% less water than conventional and greenhouse cultivation.”

Our OH Department helps maintain our greenhouses, and produces vegetables for our Farmers Market. They also grow flowers for our Floral Department. Strathmore High has always had an OH Department, but over the last few years there has been a lower interest in the classes.

So, this year our advisors are really making it a main focus and trying to improve the department by giving it more appeal.

There are now two classes of OH with 30 students in each class. Students must be of sophomore status to enroll in OH, and may take the class more than once.

Our Floral Department use flowers grown by OH, to create arrangements for our Farmers Market.

They also have a monthly subscription for arrangements. This class teaches students the skills it takes to be a floral designer.

Currently we have a total of 230 students in our Floral and OH classes.

On the newly 12 acres purchased for the Ag Farm, approximately six acres will be dedicated to growing lemons, said FFA Advisor John Akin.

Plans are for a new well to be dug on the land soon. The school plans on planting Chardonnay grapes, with a lot of room for fresh vegetables.

There is plenty of room for more animal project pens including chickens, swine and lambs. The department plans on purchasing breeding animals in the future.

“This is the stuff you want kids involved in,” Akin said.

“The goal is to pay our own way,” he added.

The department hopes to hold regular Farmers Markets with fresh produce, eggs, plants and floral arrangements available on a routine basis. During the holidays there could be flowers, wreaths, candles and other craft-related items available.

It helps, Akin said, that the school has a lot support.

“The superintendent is super positive,” he said. “He’s really onboard for us.”

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Pups are brought to the FFA members via a puppy truck or the members can travel to the campus to pick up their puppy. The students are responsible for the puppies 24/7 and are charged with introducing their puppies to as many different life situations as possible. Early on the puppies are taught their names, work on housebreaking and learn how to walk on a loose leash. Positive reinforcement techniques are taught to the FFA students, with these techniques being used throughout the socialization and raising period.

Starting at an early age puppy socialization experiences include, but are not limited to, going to school, shopping, going to movies, going to restaurants, concerts, plays, meetings, riding public transportation – any activity that a visually-impaired person may encounter in their day to day routine or life. FFA members raising the pups have no idea what the life style of the dog’s future partner may be, so it is very important that the pups have as many different life experiences as possible.

Puppies at Lemoore FFA go to school daily with their puppy raisers. Older dogs accompany their raisers to classes, while younger pups stay in Ms. Hearn’s classroom for doggy day care. If a FFA student raiser has done their job well, when the dog is recalled to the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in San Rafael, or Boring, Oregon at the age of 14-16 months, the actual guide dog training can be completed by a licensed guide dog trainer in three to six months.

At the end of the formal training period, the dog is placed with a blind person, who spends the next two weeks at one of the two Guide Dog campuses learning to work with his or her new partner. Upon completion of the two-week training period by the blind student and their new dog, there is a graduation ceremony, where the FFA member and their family are invited to the campus for the graduation ceremony to be reunited with the pup they raised and meet the dog’s new life partner.

Guide Dogs for the Blind is a non-profit organization that does not receive any governmental funding and provides their dogs free of charge (this includes training, veterinary costs and travel to the campus for training) to the blind individual. This is a non-paid, strictly volunteer project, done by the FFA members. The FFA Guide Dog Puppy Raising Project started at Lemoore High School in 1989. Lemoore FFA students brought national attention to the project and it was finally recognized as an FFA SAE project by the National FFA Association two years ago.

Lemoore FFA students are in the process of starting new puppies for several other FFA chapters throughout the Valley. Since the inception of the program at Lemoore High School, there are more than 250 FFA students in 10 Western states raising Guide Dog puppies as FFA projects. For more information about Guide Dogs for the Blind, go to www.guidedogs.com.

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