National FFA Week is underway, and the Indiana blue jackets will be out in force to celebrate and raise awareness about FFA. About 60 members will be at the Indiana Statehouse today for FFA Page Day and they’ll be honored by members of the Indiana General Assembly with a special joint resolution ceremony in the afternoon.
Cole Pearson, FFA State Treasurer from Delphi, is one of the state officers who will be helping explain what FFA is all about.
“A lot of people still think it’s Future Farmers of America. We definitely have our roots in farming, but we embrace more than just production agriculturalists,” he explained. “We embrace the people who are in agribusiness and ag law, and all of the different aspects of the agriculture industry. So we’ll be making people aware of what FFA is, what we do in our community, and trying to get more students involved in FFA.”
The state officers will each cover a part of the state, attending various chapter events throughout the week, including “bowling, petting zoos, movie and ribeye nights as well as the Women in Ag conference. We’ll have a few officers attend that. Our state president is giving the introduction for the Governor at the Governor’s prayer breakfast. And we’ll have facilitation in the classroom. That’s just the backbone of what we do as state officers.”
And if you remember the good old-fashioned drive your tractor to school days, some of those are scheduled too.
“Oh yes,” Pearson said. “I was just with a chapter and they were talking about drive your tractor to school day, and my chapter always does it. So, we look forward to those!”
Indiana will be joined by National FFA Officer Piper Merritt of Oklahoma during the Monday page day activities, and she will help promote FFA when she joins most of the Indiana officers with a walk onto the court during Friday night’s Indiana Pacers game.
More than 653,000 FFA members nationwide are celebrating the role agriculture plays in our lives while sharing the message of agricultural education as part of National FFA Week. The week always runs Saturday to Saturday and encompasses George Washington’s birthday. The National FFA Board of Directors designated the weeklong tradition, which began in 1948, in recognition of Washington’s legacy as an agriculturist and farmer. A group of young farmers founded FFA in 1928, influencing generations that agriculture is more than planting and harvesting — it involves science, business and more. The organization’s mission is to prepare future generations for the challenges of feeding a growing population.