14 CapitalPress.com
May 26, 2017
California
FFA members help special-needs Brown restores FFA, career tech
kids raise goats for county fair funding after outcry from supporters
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By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
ORLAND, Calif. — All
her life, Amanda Houtrouw
dreamed of raising her own
goat and taking it to auction
at the county fair.
This year, thanks to the
mentorship of her fellow FFA
members in Willows, Calif.,
she got the chance.
Houtrouw was one of six
students with special needs
who took part in her school’s
first Mighty Honker Goat
Project, which paired them
with mentors who helped
them raise, present and sell
goats at the Glenn County
Fair on May 18-21.
“I learned how to walk a
goat and to clean his pen,”
she said, adding that she and
her mentor, Gina Amaro, will
be friends forever.
The project was created
by Willows High School se-
nior Makaylee Lindsey, who
saw a similar project at a fair
in Southern California, she
said.
“I went to the county fair
in Santa Barbara and my
cousin was a part of the pro-
gram,” Lindsey said. “I de-
cided to bring the program
here.”
She rallied local business-
es and agriculture boosters
to donate materials and help
with the cost, which was
about $1,000 per student.
The students with in-
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
From left, Willows, Calif., High School FFA students Gina Amaro,
Makaylee Lindsey, Amanda Houtrouw and Bailey Morrell stand
with Houtrouw’s goat at the Glenn County Fair in Orland, Calif., on
May 20. The students took part in the Mighty Honker Goat Project,
which paired mentors with special-needs students to help them
bring their animals to the fair.
tellectual disabilities were
each given a goat purchased
by donors in February, and
they accompanied their men-
tors three afternoons a week
to the high school’s farm to
work with their animals.
The youngsters fed their
goats, cleaned the stalls,
weighed their goats and prac-
ticed showing the animals.
One of the students, Ryan
Torres, and his mentor, Luis
Garcia, raised the grand
champion goat.
“It’s awesome,” said Staci
Alves, an agriculture teacher
at Willows High. “It kind of
brought tears to everyone’s
eyes.”
Some of the 65 participants in the leadership summit.
What happens when high school teen leaders mentor and
lead middle school teens on April Fools weekend? Learning
happens — and that’s no joke. Such was the case for about 65
middle schoolers at the annual 4-H Teen Leadership Summit, on
April 1-2.
The Washington State 4-H Teen Ambassadors planned and
facilitated this statewide leadership opportunity, providing
workshops, activities, a speaker, and a whole lot of fun! Camp
Koinonia, near Cle Elum, provided the accommodations — a
camp settled in among the trees, with snow still in drifts around
the grounds and nice cabins. The 12 teen leaders were 4-H State
Ambassadors, serving in one of the highest leadership positions
in the state 4-H program. These amazing teens served as the
bridge between county 4-H programs, and the Washington State
4-H Program.
For this training, they planned the workshops — writing out
their lesson plans, gathering their interactive teaching materials,
facilitated the workshops, led the planned activities and
recreation, as well as secured a speaker with the message they
hoped to share with the middle schoolers, in partnership with
their advisors. Workshop topics included: Leadership Styles,
Public Speaking — focusing on elevator speeches — treating
others with Respect, Going from a “C” to an “A” — study ideas
— and Communication.
SACRAMENTO — After
hearing an outcry from FFA
advocates, Gov. Jerry Brown
has reinserted funding in
his budget proposal for high
school agriculture education
and career technical programs.
California Department of
Food and Agriculture Secretary
Karen Ross reassured teachers
that the $15.4 million for FFA
and related programs zeroed out
in Brown’s May 11 revised led-
ger has been put back in.
“Please be assured, Governor
Brown remains committed to
ongoing funding for these pro-
grams … through the Califor-
nia Department of Education,”
Ross told educators in an email.
“While one-time funding was
used to support these programs
in the current year, the gover-
nor is committed to ongoing
funding for these programs for
2017-18 and beyond.”
The decision pleased Anna
Canon, an agriculture teach-
er and FFA adviser at Orland
High School. The school’s ag
program has 218 students, or
roughly one-third of the entire
student body, she said.
“When this came up with
the budget cuts, we were
asked to bring kids to the
Capitol,” Canon said. “That
(funding) is how we are able
to do what we do. Now the
governor’s office is support-
Tim Hearden/Capital Press File
The California state Capitol
dome.
ing ongoing funding.”
The proposed cut was part
of a plan to boost spending for
community colleges by $160
million to, among other goals,
improve students’ employ-
ment opportunities.
Whether the FFA allocation
will be moved back from the
community college fund or
found elsewhere is yet to be
determined by Brown and leg-
islators, said Jim Aschwanden,
the California Agricultural
Teachers Association’s execu-
tive director.
“We have to work those de-
tails out,” he said. “I haven’t
seen the details yet, but the
commitment is there to fund it.”
Brown’s reversal came af-
ter parents, students and other
FFA advocates took to social
media to rally support for the
programs. Last week, 65 leg-
islators sent a letter to the
governor and to budget com-
mittee leaders asking that the
funding be restored.
The $15.4 million rep-
resents the state’s total con-
tribution to FFA and other
programs, including one for
future business leaders, a
family and consumer sciences
program and SkillsUSA, a ca-
reer and technical student or-
ganization, Aschwanden said.
“What this money has
enabled them to do is hold
leadership conferences and
bring state officers together
to do leadership training for
their chapters throughout the
state,” he said.
Of the 114,000 California
students that would have been
affected by the cut, 86,000 are
in FFA, which has a foundation
to help raise money but relies
on the state allocation as “base
funding,” he said.
“If there weren’t an FFA
program, kids wouldn’t have
the ability to develop leader-
ship skills and a work ethic
and (learn how to) manage
money,” said Staci Alves, an
agriculture teacher at Willows
High School.
Budget negotiations at the
Capitol have been ongoing
since Brown presented his
$124 billion revised ledger. The
Democrat-controlled Legisla-
ture must approve a 2017-18
budget by June 15.
4-H State Ambassadors enjoy their time at the 4-H Teen
Leadership Summit.
Each workshop was a “hands on” experience, allowing the teens
to not just “sit and listen” but practice and participate.
Sean Gadson, originally from California, but just finishing
his master’s degree at Central Washington University, shared his
story of overcoming poverty, and what others thought he could
and couldn’t do, to fulfill his dream of getting into veterinary
school. He challenged the teens to not accept anyone else’s
limitations but reach for their
dreams. The 4-H State
Ambassadors also took the
opportunity to share with the
younger teens many of the
new leadership adventures
and activities that are
available to them now and as
they get into high school.
These include the County
Ambassador Program,
District Rallies in the fall,
State Ambassadors Program
and 4-H Know Your
Government. For more
information go to: http://
Leadership summit participants
enjoy the outdoors during a break.
extension.wsu.edu/4h/
21-4/#13