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Wallowa.com
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
A7
Enterprise FFA gets to attend national convention
ise for the future and have
gone above and beyond to
achieve excellence.
The requirements to
earn the American FFA
Degree are set forth in the
National FFA Constitution.
To be eligible to receive
the American FFA Degree,
members must meet qual-
ifi cations, such as receiv-
ing a State FFA Degree,
holding active member-
ship for the past three
years, completing second-
ary instruction in an agri-
cultural education program
and operating an outstand-
ing supervised agricultural
experience program. Com-
munity service, leadership
abilities and outstanding
scholastic achievement are
also required.
Wallowa, Joseph
attended virtually
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
INDIANAPOLIS
—
Twenty-fi ve
Enterprise
FFA members attended this
year’s 94th annual National
FFA Convention on Oct.
27-30 in Indianapolis, said
adviser Stephanie Schofi eld,
among more than 64,000
FFA members from around
the nation.
Accompanied by chap-
erones Jay McFetridge,
Jessi Cunningham and Luke
Royes, the group left Enter-
prise on Oct. 25.
Schofi eld said she has led
the Enterprise FFA Chap-
ter in attending the conven-
tion every year for the past
23 years.
On the trip, the students
also got the chance to inter-
act with members from the
Hope, Indiana, FFA Chapter,
with whom the Enterprise
Chapter has fostered a “sis-
ter” relationship. The Hope
Chapter housed the Enter-
prise members during the
convention and joined them
in an annual get-together
at their school. In turn, the
Enterprise Chapter hosts an
exchange, which brings four
or fi ve Hope students to Ore-
gon to attend the State FFA
Convention.
“This is an awesome
opportunity for students
explore leadership opportu-
nities and to set goals for the
upcoming year,” Schofi eld
said Thursday, Nov. 11.
Attending virtually
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise FFA adviser Stephanie Schofi eld looks over the work of some of her agriculture students in the ag and FFA classroom
Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. Some of the kids attended the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in late October.
Member reactions
Last year’s convention
was held virtually because of
the COVID-19 pandemic, so
students attending this year
were excited for the trip.
Some of the kids who
attended
shared
their
impressions.
“Everyone always talks
about the sea of the blue,”
Eva Anderson said. “Not
ever experiencing it for
myself, I was not sure what
it would feel like to see
it through my own eyes.
Walking into the conven-
tion on Thursday, you are
surrounded by blue. We
walked upstairs and got our
seats. Looking down all you
see is ‘the sea of blue.’ This
was the coolest thing I will
ever see. You could feel the
energy and excitement in the
room.”
“Looking back on the
quick four years we call high
school, the memory of this
trip I was privileged enough
to take will defi nitely stick
with me,” Maci Marr said.
“This trip has brought with it
so much new knowledge and
love for diff erent cultures,
cities and people. Now with
the experience and knowing
how amazing this trip can
be, I hope to work towards
a national profi ciency award
so I might be able to get to
experience the trip again.”
“I know that in my future
I will be doing something
in the agriculture fi eld,”
Tegan Evans said. “I have
not yet fi gured out what that
is going to be, but getting to
go on these trips helps kids
decide what they might want
to be when they get out of
high school or college.”
“After being able to
have this experience at the
National FFA Convention,
I am hopeful that the tra-
Stephanie Schofi eld/Contributed Photo
Enterprise High School FFA students have a farm tour at Hope, Indiana, late last month.
dition of this trip contin-
ues for future classes to be
able to experience,” Mad-
ison Wigen said. “It really
is a great way to learn new
things about agriculture that
could be diff erent from what
we are used to which is use-
ful to FFA students for their
potential future in agricul-
ture. It also is a great way to
meet new people and to get
out of your comfort zone in
large social settings along
with learning valuable les-
sons especially at the con-
vention workshops that we
attended.”
Cost saving
That sister relationship
also helped with the cost
of the trip, Schofi eld said,
by housing with Hope FFA
members.
“That saves about $5,000
in motel costs,” she said.
As it was, the cost for
each student was about $800
to attend. Schofi eld said if
not for FFA fundraisers and
support from the school’s
FFA alumni chapter, the cost
would have been closer to
$1,200.
“It’s a massive undertak-
ing to plan it,” she said, add-
ing that seeing to the hous-
Goldsmith
Melville
Top degrees
Stephanie Schofi eld/Contributed Photo
A “sea of blue” as one Enterprise FFA member described it
greeted those who attended the National FFA Convention in
late October in Indianapolis.
ing, tickets to events and
other miscellany make it a
job.
Students came home
motivated to pursue goals
and to compete in leader-
ship contests including agri-
cultural issues, agriscience,
employment skills and pro-
fi ciency awards.
Formerly known as
Future Farmers of Amer-
ica, FFA is a premier lead-
ership organization that has
expanded beyond agricul-
ture and off ers students rel-
evant career-related oppor-
tunities for growth that both
encompass and reach far
beyond the traditional scope
of the organization.
The trip not only included
attending sessions and work-
shops at the convention, but
also tours of farms, Civil
War museums, the Indianap-
olis Motor Speedway and
many other locations.
Although they were not
able to attend, members
Kaylie Melville and Natalie
Goldsmith received their
American FFA Degrees this
year. This is the highest
degree an FFA member can
attain. They apply for the
award during their fresh-
man year of college.
As the highest degree
achievable in the National
FFA Organization, the
American FFA Degree
shows an FFA member’s
dedication to his or her
chapter and state FFA orga-
nization. It demonstrates
the eff ort FFA members
apply toward their super-
vised agricultural expe-
rience and the outstand-
ing leadership abilities and
community
involvement
they exhibited through their
FFA career.
American FFA Degree
recipients show prom-
Jeremy McCulloch, FFA
adviser in Wallowa, said his
school’s chapter had to set-
tle for attending virtually
for the second consecutive
year, largely because too
many students had missed
too much school because of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our kids were out of
school too much this year
already,” he said Wednes-
day, Nov. 10.
He said the kids were
able to watch several of the
sessions, including those of
keynote speakers.
But, he said, “It’s not the
same if you’re not there.”
He said he had kids from
the past honored for being
fi nalists. There were sev-
eral who will be American
Degree winners when they
attend next year.
Of note, McCulloch said,
Samantha Starner-Durning
was a fi nalist in ag educa-
tion and was Oregon’s win-
ner. She graduated from
Wallowa High School this
past spring.
“We had a great senior
class that was heavily
impacted by what was
going on,” he said, refer-
ring to the pandemic.
He also said the Wallowa
Chapter had 15 state degree
winners in last year’s class.
In Wallowa’s grades
seven through high school,
there are 74 FFA members,
he said.
“We’ve always had a
pretty high percentage of
kids going through this pro-
gram,” he said. “Hopefully
next year with any luck we
can pull that off .”
McCulloch, too, was
honored this year. Although
he wasn’t able to attend,
he received an honor-
ary American FFA Degree
as an adviser, the high-
est award an educator can
receive.
The
Joseph
Char-
ter School FFA Chapter
also had to settle for vir-
tual attendance. Adviser
Chelcee Mansfi eld said
the chapter, which has 90
members, did not attend
because of the pandemic
and watched from home.
“Joseph
has
gone
every second or third
year, according to (for-
mer adviser Toby) Koehn,”
Mansfi eld said in an email
Monday. “We are planning
on keeping this tradition
unless students qualify in a
Career Development Event
then we will attend on off
years.”
She said Joseph’s FFA
Chapter is planning to
attend next year.
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