Anthony Brooks, Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher and National FFA Organization adviser, hangs up a poster for the “Back 2 School Bash” outside of Room 109 on Aug. 21. While Brooks helped supervise the planning of the event, the FFA officers decided what the meeting will look like. “Our FFA officers are the leaders of the chapter. They were the ones that took the planning initiative. If they have questions (or need) any help or advice, they can come to me and I’ll support them, but it is a student-run organization,” Brooks said. Photo by Emlyn McKinney
CCHS’s National FFA Organization will host its first event of the school year, the “Back 2 School Bash” as a celebratory and informative meeting.
The “Back 2 School Bash,” hosted by Clarke Central High School’s National FFA Organization, will be held on Aug. 20 at 3:40 p.m. in FFA adviser Levi Carr Brooks’s classroom, Room 107.
When planning the event, the FFA officers referenced the 2023-24 school year’s “Back 2 School Bash” to create a celebration while encouraging students to learn about the club.
“This year we’re going to go over a short (presentation about) what FFA is. Then we’re gonna congregate outside, have grills, food, water games and fun, summery activities,” FFA Parliamentarian Kate Hinger, a CCHS sophomore said.
The presentation is also intended to challenge students’ assumptions about who FFA is for, something that Anthony Brooks, a CCHS Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher and FFA adviser, finds important.
“When (people) think of FFA, (they) might think of the Future Farmers of America, but it’s so much more than that. We are a leadership organization, with ties to agriculture, and it’s an extension of what we’re doing in the classroom,” Brooks said. “If (students) have any interest in agriculture (or) leadership, we would love to have (them) participate in our meetings (and) competitions.”
This meeting will inform students about the pathways they can follow, from identifying plants to leadership skills.
“(Members of the club can learn) about plants, animal care, making floral designs, all that kind of stuff. (We) work on talking to people, interviews, communication skills (and) eye contact,” FFA President Quinn Pendley, a CCHS junior, said.
“When (people) think of FFA, (they) might think of the Future Farmers of America, but it’s so much more than that. We are a leadership organization, with ties to agriculture,”
— Anthony Brooks,
CCHS FFA adviser and Career, Technical and Agricultural department teacher
According to FFA Secretary Clarice Buril, a junior, the “Back 2 School Bash” will also help students build connections among the other members.
“We like our first meeting to be an introduction to everybody because, especially with rising freshmen or people new to the club, we want everyone to know each other,” Buril said. “We’re trying to get more team-bonding activities. Even though (FFA is) not a team, it’s a club, we view it as something that everyone should be able to feel safe and comfortable in.”
