Not Just A Club For So-Called ‘Hicks’
October 19, 2021
Top row left to right: Gabe Mcmains, Braden Booth, Devon Miller, Lucas Crutcher, Brett Sartin. Bottom row left to right: Taylor Rode, Abigail Gilmartin, Brigid Woods, Jillian Rockwell, Alyssa Snitker, Kolton Stevens Photo Taken: July 12. Taken by: Matt Crutcher at the Area Leadership Conference in Willard.
Fair Grove FFA continues to make a great name for themselves as they start another successful year uplifting and teaching students while also creating a better community.
FFA stands for Future Farmers of America but not everyone who participates in FFA has to necessarily be a farmer. Lucas Crutcher (12), a chapter and area president, explains, “It is not just a club for so-called “hicks”, but it is a club where everyone can get involved and learn skills that will help them long after graduation from high school.”
FFA constantly has lots of activities and projects going on at any given point of the year. For example, they do lots of club bonding activities such as Barn Warming. This was a dance held and coordinated by FFA that made it to where FFA members would go out to a barn and essentially have a dance there. Crutcher stated, “Barn Warming was a fun experience, I had a great time personally. We prepared by choosing a queen and king candidate from the school. And also, me and Mr. Johnston had to go up early and make sure everything was ready to roll.”
Another big opportunity that FFA has coming up is their second National Convention. However, not everyone in FFA gets to go to the National Conventions. There is a set list of things you must do in order to qualify to go. For example, they have established a point system, and if you rack up the required amount of points you would qualify to go. You can earn these points by participating in a certain amount out of the 11 activities they host throughout the year. More specifically, one of those events was when they were selling raffle tickets. To qualify, you had to sell 100 or more raffle tickets. Once you rack up all of your points, you have to be within the top 10 kids with the most points to be able to go. They have recently announced those kids on the FFA Facebook page.
Matt Crutcher, the sponsor of FFA as well as a teacher at Fair Grove High School, talked about what it is like being in charge of FFA. He remarks, “I enjoy working with students on a variety of things with FFA. Agriculture is such a broad industry, we spend time with animal science, plant science, leadership, construction/mechanics, etc., that it is hard to be an expert on everything. I enjoy working with community members to give students hands-on experience in the different parts of agriculture. I also enjoy preparing students in public speaking and helping them find their possible career paths.”
FFA is open to anyone and everyone who wants to join. If you are wanting a place to find a community, this is a club to join. Chloe Reynaud (12) explained, “I would recommend people to join FFA because the teachers are amazing, the classes are fun, and the kids are entertaining. This is a way to get plugged into a group and club here at school with teachers who care and want to have fun with their students and see them succeed.”