FFA adviser and Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Levi Carr holds a chicken in the newly built chicken coop on May 4, 2022. During the 2022-23 school year, the membership in the FFA chapter has increased by roughly 75%. “We have a great focus (on) making sure that we continue to do the best job that we possibly can with whatever cards we are dealt with at any given point,” Carr said. “I am very big on making sure that we stay humble and by that meaning, don’t forget where you come from.” Photo by Luna Reichert
The CCHS FFA chapter has had an increase in participants during the 2022-23 school year, and the advisers and members hope to continue this trend in order to inspire others’ agricultural passions.
From growing plants to showing livestock to expanding agricultural education, the Clarke Central High School FFA chapter provides opportunities and resources for a wide range of students and subjects.
In order to provide opportunities for a wider range of students, the FFA advisers and members have focused on growth since the 2016-2017 school year. According to CCHS Class of 2019 alumna Jordan Butler, FFA President from 2016 to 2019, when she started participating in the newly reinstated FFA chapter at CCHS in 2016, it had roughly 10 people and served as a pilot program. By 2018, it had grown to over 30 members.
“We went to (the) National Convention in Indianapolis in 2017. From there, that just jump-started our agricultural education there at Clarke Central,” Butler said. “It was a pretty small chapter compared to where it is now because I see that it’s blossoming now, which really excites (me) because it’s like, ‘Hey, I was a seed that planted that foundation.’”
Jordan credits the success of the FFA chapter during her time to Jillian Gordon, a former FFA adviser and CCHS Career, Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher.
FEATURED: FOUR FFA FACTS: An infographic shows the various ways FFA members bond and help the Athens, Georgia community. FFA member Kim Huu Vo, a CCHS senior, believes that these activities bring the whole FFA club together, to grow as people. “The FFA activities bring everyone together and it’s helping make us have leadership cue and about the leadership skills for myself to prepare for the future when we become adults and my future in our mission,” FFA member Kim Huu Vo, a CCHS senior, said. Infographic by Victoria Garland
“She really helped blossom the program because she was young, excited. She was very, very hopeful and very, very positive,” Butler said. “She just helped make the program where it began and she knew exactly what the program needed to help bloom. She just fed the soil and then we grew up from there.”
FFA adviser and CTAE department teacher Levi Carr took over the program from Gordon in the 2020-21 school year, but faced challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I felt like it was such a struggle at the beginning to get any student,” Carr said. “We were in a virtual format and I know that’s a bit different, but a program that has gone through dramatic change of teachers year after year, I think you lose those connections with those students and the opportunities that you may be able to present (to) them.”
Despite the challenges, Carr was able to grow the program. During the 2022- 23 school year, membership of the CCHS FFA chapter has increased by about 75%, according to Carr.
“With the bonus addition to our program this year, Ms. (Emily) Courson, who is our second agricultural instructor, as well as FFA adviser, I think that has been a very beneficial part to our program and key to our success here. As we have grown in numbers, we needed more assistance of oversight and hands on deck with getting things planned and accurately obtained with that,” Carr said.
Carr partially credits the growth of the program to the outreach done with middle schools as the majority of the new members are ninth graders. Additionally, Carr contributes this growth to the student leaders in the program.
“I would say that we also have one of the strongest officer teams that we’ve had in quite some time here at Clarke Central, which really excites me because they are very passionate about the organization and what the organization has to offer for its students,” Carr said.
While the FFA program has had many changes in membership recently, one thing has stayed consistent: community.
“I would say spending time together outside of school brings us together. We all know that we’re a part of the FFA community,” Former FFA Reporter Da’oud DeLane, a CCHS Class of 2023 Alumnus, said. “We do different types of events like bowling, we go out, stuff like that. We also want you in the community. There’s definitely a strong bond between FFA members, regardless of where you’re from, as well.”
“We do different types of events like bowling, we go out, stuff like that. We also want you in the community. There’s definitely a strong bond between FFA members, regardless of where you’re from, as well.”
— Da’oud DeLane,
Former FFA Reporter and CCHS Class of 2023 Alumnus
Former FFA member Kim Huu Vo, a CCHS Class of 2023 alumnus, agrees with the personal aspect of FFA, but has also noticed the life skills FFA provides to its members.
“I think (that) everyone should know about FFA because this is cool and about the education program,” Vo said. “The FFA activities bring everyone together and it’s helping make us have leadership cue and about the leadership skills for myself to prepare for the future when we become adults and my future in our mission.”
Right: COMMUNITY CONNECTION: Students are working with FFA adviser and Career, and Technical and Agricultural Education department teacher Levi Carr at the CCHS FFA Plant Sale at Clarke Central High School during March 29 to April 1. The sale that the program hosted is just one way the FFA chapter has focused on building a community inside and outside the program. “It’s really just about community and finding ways to impact your community. So we volunteer at soup kitchens, we go to animal shelters (and) we donate there,” FFA Reporter Da’oud DeLane, a CCHS senior, said. “It’s really learning about what you’re passionate about in agriculture.” Photos by Victoria Garland, Maya Clement and Luna Reichert
With the increase in connection and people involved, the FFA chapter sees a promising future that’ll blossom.
“The future of what it looks like to me is growing the program even more. I think probably within the next three years, we will be expecting to see a three-teacher Ag program,” Courson said. “I think that our expansion looks like building bigger livestock facilities here. We know that we now have goats here, we have rabbits, chickens, but we’re looking to expand that more. We now have students who are interested in showing cattle, sheep, plus we have more students showing goats (and) now we want to build more rabbit pins.”
In the end, Carr’s goal for the program is to make sure that students are able to get what they need from the program, whether that be agricultural education or a place to be supported.
“If there’s one stable place for anybody, I want it to be FFA. Our students need our support system,” Carr said. “And we’re truly making an impact at the end of the day with the number of students that we are submitting through agricultural programs at college, careers, and interest (in) service learning projects within our community. I think it’s been very evident that FFA is here and it’s nowhere near leaving anytime in the future.”
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