FFA is a program that is used to develop the youth in the aspect of agriculture and isn’t an acronym for anything anymore like it was when it was first established. It has helped a lot of students like juniors Jacy Essex and Jessica Nash in developing new skills they didn’t have before.

“It has developed me as a person and as a leader,” Nash said. “I did public speaking in seventh grade and that made me not afraid to wing it even though it might not be perfect.”

“FFA has helped me grow as a person and being able to speak in front of a group of people in public speaking,” Essex said. “It has taught me many leadership skills as well.”

As well as helping students grow, FFA also has them compete in different contests to access their different skills and allows them to explore different fields in agriculture. FFA also helps the members be more involved in their communities and teaches the members to help wherever they are needed.  

“Personally, I like to do the leadership positions in FFA,” Nash said. “Currently I am the Chapter 4 President for Michigan and I am the chapter president. I just like to help out wherever I am needed.”

“I have done many contests,” Essex said. “I have done public speaking, horse judging, the broiler contest, I have also gone to Leonard to read to the younger kids there.”

 When people think of FFA and they have never been in the program, most automatically think it stands for Future Farmers Of America. FFA is no longer defined as Future Farmers Of America.

“FFA is a program to help the youth grow and develop in leadership for the future of agriculture,” Nash said. “We have to feed around nine billion people by 2050 so that is our goal, to improve our leaders of the world in agriculture.”