(Left to right) Bailey Crowder, Allie Johnson, Jessica St. John and Blake Nickle pose in front of the Seeger FFA banner.
“We do a lot of things different here,” says advisor Blake Nickle of the Seeger FFA Chapter in West Lebanon, Ind. Perhaps that’s to be expected from the cofounder of The Unorthodox Owl podcast, a nod to the FFA advisor symbol and a showcase of the school’s unique agriculture programs.
One standout event is the chapter’s annual consignment auction, held on the second Saturday in April. Nickle, who serves as one of the two licensed auctioneers, organizes the event with fellow advisors and podcast founders Bailey Crowder and Jessica St. John. The auction has been the chapter’s signature event since 2007, when St. John was the Seeger FFA vice president.
“It started small,” she says. “It was kind of like, ‘Bring your lawn mowers, and we’ll sell them,’ but now it has really taken off.”
Items sold over the years include flatbed and livestock trailers, hay, barnwood, iron skillets, handmade quilts, patio sets and old crocks. “We don’t say no,” Nickle notes, but the routine favorites are lawn mowers, livestock equipment, and trees and shrubs provided by a local nursery. “Our community loves to help out the ag department any way they can,” Crowder says.
In 2021, they registered more than 300 attendees and about 60 consignors. The chapter took home roughly $9,000, which included 15% commission on items under $200, 10% on items $200 and up, and 100% profit on donated items like canned goods. In addition, the Seeger chapter received $2,000 from the alumni chapter’s concessions.
The auction funds the majority of the chapter’s programming for the year, including attending national convention, serving meals at chapter meetings, celebrating National FFA Week, paying entry fees and hosting the chapter banquet.
Nickle, Crowder and St. John attribute the event’s success to an all-in approach, which starts by forming an auction committee of FFA members after winter break. From there, “we do massive amounts of advertising,” Crowder says, including a billboard, local radio interviews, yard signs and flyers starting the first week in March. “More advertising kind of saved the auction a few years ago,” adds St. John. “People didn’t realize it was happening until we upped our advertising game.”
Money isn’t the only return, though. Members are involved in prepping mailers, posting social media photos, loading purchases and clerking. They exhibit “a lot of integrity, energy and passion,” Nickle says. Most members say it’s their favorite event of the year. Sophomore Sentinel Allie Johnson agrees. “I love watching what items come in and how well they sell,” she says, “and I’ve learned how to communicate with people in the community I don’t usually talk to.”
“This is the time we really see them come out of their shell,” says Crowder.
St. John adds, “It really has been super rewarding to come back as an advisor and see the growth and the change.”
