In the 2022-23 school year, FFA hit 200 members, this being the largest the chapter has ever been, according to FFA teacher Lacie Fair. Off to the main building of Newton High School is the VoAg building, where students can gain agricultural knowledge and gain real job experience. FFA was recognized on the Kansas FFA Instagram for their hard work and fundraising.
Future Farmers of America is a student organization program that allows students in all 50 states to get scientific, leadership and agriculture education through hands-on opportunities. Students from the Harvey county area are invited to take part in the FFA program, which may not be offered in their school. Fair has been co-adviser with Kathryn Honeyman. Together they help students pick out community projects that better the community and give students leadership skills.
“For the school, we try to promote agriculture, which is a major way of life here in Newton, and we also try to support the school as much as possible,” Fair said. “We do lunches for staff twice a year, we also do several service projects for the community as well. We are getting ready for several competitions that are occurring at the end of January and the beginning of February. It was good to see that the kids’ hard work is being recognized at a state level. Our students do a lot in terms of their participation in competitions, but being recognized for their involvement in community services has an extra special benefit to it because the students do a lot involving those projects.”
FFA competes and fundraisers throughout the year. To get the resignation on the Kansas FFA Instagram, FFA conducted a project. The Newton chapter raised and harvested their own chickens to give to the Salvation Army. The chapter works on projects no matter the season, including an annual plant sale around Mother’s Day. Senior Brylee Budde has done FFA since her start of high school she has been involved in the FFA program, getting an officer position her senior year.
“We find some needs throughout our community and we do whatever we can to help,” Budde said. “During Thanksgiving, we also made a meal for the homeless shelter here in town. I have put countless hours into it. I was the one who nominated our chapter and wrote out the paragraph about what our chapter did to deserve that award. Our chapter is friends with some of the state officers and they saw how hard we worked so it was not very surprising that we got this award, but it definitely does make you feel good about how hard we work and how much our advisors help us.”