(By: Nathan Bloechl)
Humboldt, Iowa – As he sat in his office and smirked, Tom Johnson, FFA Advisor at Humboldt High School seemed pleasantly happy to talk about FFA Week.
“We always go out and run our annual promotions [and enlighten the people what we do in FFA]” Johnson smiled.
National Future Farmers of America Week is right in the middle of it’s tenure in 2017, which began on February 17th and ends this Saturday, February 25th.
“Throughout the week here at the school, we have different activities for FFA members to participate in, from scavenger hunts, to different types of dress up days, as well as a barbecue” explained Johnson.
Johnson also mentioned that the FFA group spent yesterday (Wednesday) at the sub-district leadership contest.
The contest gave students the ability to participate in leadership contests against other FFA Chapters in the area.
“They looked at job interviews, public speaking contests” said Johnson.
But, Johnson said the biggest factor during FFA week is enlightening people that FFA isnt just about production agriculture, there are so many different avenues students in the club go through.
“Everybody thinks FFA is [synonymous] with production ag, but we really try to reach out to all of our students, that maybe won’t be going into production ag” Johnson mentioned.
“Maybe that includes ag business, which is a big growing field, we have to support that industry too. We try to open the eyes of our students, that if they can’t get into production ag, that there always lots of opportunities” elaborated Johnson.
And while Johnson recognizes those opportunities may not be in Humboldt for all of his students, he wants to make sure they know somewhere their talents will be used.