County schools celebrate National FFA Week

Straw bale throwing, pedal tractor races, cornhole, breakfasts, dressup days and a trip to the National Farm Machinery Show.

This combination of activities could only mean one thing: It’s National FFA Week.

During the week, chapters across the country host a variety of events to educate, advocate and celebrate the agricultural industry. This year, it was observed Feb. 18 to 25.

The previously mentioned activities were among those organized by the six chapters in Jackson County: Brownstown Central High School, Crothersville Junior-Senior High School, Medora High School, Seymour Middle School, Seymour High School and Trinity Lutheran High School.

All of the schools got their peers involved with dressup days, which included wearing overalls, camouflage, cowboy gear, plaid, flannel, pajamas, red, white and blue and FFA’s signature colors, blue and gold.

Trinity’s chapter also got students involved during a convocation Thursday morning in the Bollinger Athletic Complex, where they were invited to participate in pedal tractor races, cornhole and straw bale throwing.

The first two activities have been done in previous years, but Vice President Peyton Pollert said members decided to add the latter one and found it to be a success. Even Principal Clayton Darlage participated and won a toy tractor keychain for his efforts.

“We were just brainstorming and we were like, ‘Hey, what if we did this?’ and we were like, ‘Yeah, sure,’” Pollert said. “It was a success, so I think we’ll do it again.”

Keeping the tradition going with the pedal tractor races was important to the group.

“It’s fun because people talk about that from last year still, and so we knew that had to happen again,” Pollert said.

Overall, he was glad to see the school embrace the FFA’s fun activities.

“We were a little nervous that everyone would be timid and no one would come down, but the exact opposite happened,” Pollert said. “It’s cool to see our hard work pay off, cool to see everybody participating.”

Pollert said the chapter also had its first cornhole tournament earlier in the week, and he was among three members who participated in Drive Your Tractor to School Day on Thursday.

“I think a lot of people don’t realize how much we do outside of school,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that happens, so I think this is just another reminder that we’re a big club. It’s a big organization throughout the whole country. We’re a part of a nationwide club.”

Seymour FFA Adviser Jeanna Eppley said their biggest event during National FFA Week was Tuesday night at the Seymour Ag-Science and Research Farm in the Freeman Field Industrial Park, where the annual degree ceremony took place.

Along with middle and high school members receiving Discovery, Greenhand and Chapter degrees, they had a very special guest, national FFA officer MacKenna Clifton of North Carolina, who is southern region vice president for 2022-23. She facilitated a leadership development activity with Seymour FFA members.

“This is a very elite experience for an FFA chapter, and there are not many officers at the national level, and traveling to individual chapters is not something they do much of,” Eppley said.

Other activities for Seymour High School FFA included serving a teacher lunch and cherry delight on Thursday, daily dressup themes, daily school announcements with FFA information and trivia and officers sharing messages on 92.7 Nash Icon. Seymour Middle School had the same dressup themes.

Also Thursday, Adviser Micah Dillman and 13 members of the middle and high school chapters traveled to Oolitic for an Indiana FFA District XI volleyball tournament.

“Seymour FFA won the tournament and received money that will be donated to a local charity,” Dillman said.

Seventh-grader Zoe Wischmeier was on that team. She’s part of the SMS FFA leadership team in her first year in the organization and also helped with Friday morning’s teacher appreciation breakfast.

“Just being a team and getting together and thanking them for letting us get out and do our contests and everything,” she said of why it’s important to serve the breakfast to SMS staff. “They are all really nice and understanding with everything we have going on over here. They get breakfast, and we have a way to thank them.”

Breakfast was the theme Friday, as that also was served by FFA to staff at Brownstown Central High School and students and staff at Medora Community Schools.

Medora FFA Adviser Adam Conklin said other chapter activities included attending the National Farm Machinery Show and spirit dressup days.

At Crothersville, the FFA chapter had dressup days, including two in cooperation with Students Against Destructive Decisions to promote the prevention of teen dating violence, and games were offered at lunch following those dressup themes.