Missouri FFA News Releases

COLUMBIA , Mo. , April 16, 2009 – Centralia FFA placed third out of 317 chapters in the state, earning a Top Chapter Award at the 81^st Missouri FFA Convention. Only 10 percent of state chapters receive the Top Chapter Award each year.

Chapter activity awards, sponsored by FCS Financial, are given to chapters achieving excellence in student, chapter and community development. Centralia FFA Chapter advisors are Lori Lewis and Scott Stone.

The Centralia FFA student development activities included sending members to leadership training at state and national levels where they learned valuable skills that were shared with other chapter members. Thirty-two members took advantage of the opportunity to experience “Out of the Box Leadership” at the Area IV Leadership Conference. The students interacted with community and FFA presenters. Those who attended the leadership conference presented a mini-conference for members who did not attend. The chapter held six events designed to stimulate teamwork skills, self image and physical fitness.

Chapter development activities are designed to promote excellence within the chapter. Centralia FFA Chapter officers and committee members planned and implemented a fun-filled week of activities to display FFA opportunities and dispel common myths about FFA. This activity helped continue the chapter’s 100 percent membership. The chapter had the largest freshmen class in 10 years.

FFA members sold fruit and floral products to the local community. They sold over $27,000 of product. The chapter also resurrected the annual labor auction to raise funds.

Centralia ’s community development activities encouraged chapter members to develop Supervised Agricultural Experience Program projects that increased the local community economy. They also offered an FFA business directory that highlighted products and services. For environmental stewardship members of the Young’s Creek Clean Water Project presented three different programs about the importance of monitoring and cleaning up Young’s Creek. Those who attended learned how to monitor the water quality of their local creeks and its influence of the ground water.

The top chapters are submitted to the National FFA Organization where they compete for the National FFA Chapter Award. The competition will be this fall at the National FFA convention in Indianapolis, Ind.

The Missouri FFA has 24,410 members representing 317 chapters. The national organization has over 507,000 members representing 7,439 local chapters in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands .

The FFA Mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

-END-

CAA-3-CENTRALIA-RH