Nationwide Future Farmers of America is a club that over 700,000 students are part of in high school. Some people may think FFA is all about animals or only for people who are farmers, but it is more than that. The purpose of the club has a deeper meaning.

“FFA is a student organization where kids from all over the country come together, not necessarily just your agriculture kids. It is anybody who is interested in the future of agriculture, and we attend conferences to learn about leadership through agriculture,” FFA Vice President Kaylee Kriha said. “We also attend conventions in state as well as out of state and this is when we meet lots of new people.”

The members of the FFA club take their tasks very seriously. To make sure they are fulfilling these tasks, they meet certain days to discuss what is happening in the upcoming weeks.

“We meet once a month. It is usually the second Monday of the month. We talk about what community service we are doing that week, what get-togethers we are doing and whatever else is on the agenda,” FFA President Natalie Ott said.

In the fall, FFA usually has a busy schedule. This year some of the clubs activities have had to either be virtual, postponed or rescheduled due to COVID-19.

“Some of the things we attended in the fall are National Convention and Dairy Expo. We also have to figure out our teams for Pre CDE’s and start practicing with them,” FFA Secretary Catie Olsen said. “This year National Convention is virtual and we can attend this on our own and World Dairy Expo is canceled.”

This upcoming summer, the summer of 2021, FFA had originally planned to take a trip to Europe. This trip was opened up to the entire school with only 20 student spots to fill. Due to the virus changes have been made on when the trip will be able to go.

“It has been postponed to the summer of 2022, but we are still doing the same agenda and itinerary as we would do this summer,” Ott said. “Seniors can still go, they are just going to basically act as a chaperone. They will have to fill out all the extra paper work and get a background check.”

Since FFA is involved in so many different events year around it is easy for them to stay busy. Looking back at years past, it was difficult for Kriha to pick her favorite.

“My favorite thing so far is not something that we attend annually, but it is something that I went to last year called Half Time Conference. It is where two officers from your club attend this conference with officers from all over the state of Wisconsin,” Kriha said. “It is a big leadership conference where you learn new activities to bring back to your own club.”