Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, four FFA members are honored with American Star Awards for outstanding accomplishments in FFA and agricultural education.
The American Star Awards, including American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience, are presented to FFA members who demonstrate outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through completion of supervised agricultural experience (SAE). A required activity in FFA, an SAE allows students to learn by doing, by owning or operating an agricultural business, working or serving an internship at an agriculture-based business, or conducting an agriculture-based scientific experiment and reporting results.
Other requirements to achieve the award include demonstrating top management skills; completing key agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements; and earning an American FFA Degree, the organization’s highest level of student accomplishment.
The American Star in Agribusiness is awarded to the FFA member with the top nonproduction agribusiness SAE in the nation. Here are the 2022 winner and finalists for Star in Agribusiness:
WINNER: Kaitlyn Hart, Georgia
Many FFA members join the organization knowing what to expect because their family is involved in agriculture, but Kaitlyn Hart said she was almost clueless when she joined Colquitt County FFA in rural Georgia.
“I joined FFA as a 10th grader for the very first time,” Hart said. “I had zero knowledge about flowers, about horticulture, or really about the agriculture industry, until I got involved in my FFA program.”
Hart said she was heavily influenced by her agriculture teacher Adrienne Smith, so she quickly became interested in horticulture and floral design. While she was still in high school, Hart took a risk and started a business called Kait’s Blossoms.
“I wanted to make my supervised agricultural experience (SAE) really unique,” Hart said. “Now, six years later, I’m still owning and operating Kait’s Blossoms.”
Hart’s business started small — arranging flowers for her family and friends at birthday parties. She slowly expanded her clientele and services over time, and now Kait’s Blossoms makes floral arrangements for weddings and other big events. Hart said she only started doing weddings at the end of 2021, but she’s already worked on a dozen of them.
“I could never have a business if it were not for … people who wanted to trust me to be a part of someone’s special day,” Hart said.
Kait’s Blossoms moves with its owner, however. Hart is currently studying hospitality and food industry management at the University of Georgia, so she’s had the opportunity to serve two different communities. Hart said her biggest accomplishment so far is decorating the Georgia governor’s mansion for Christmas, but she has no plans to stop there.
“I’ve absolutely loved the past six years, and being able to … serve people,” Hart said. “I want to pursue Kait’s Blossoms and hopefully open up a brick and mortar store one day.”
Hart doesn’t run her business alone, though. She said her parents have been an essential part of her team since day one.
“They have gone with me after every wedding to clean up at midnight, and they’ve never once complained,” Hart said.
For FFA members looking to start their own SAE, Hart shared advice that harkens back to her decision to join FFA as a 10th grader: it’s never too late.
“Most people do start when they’re in middle school,” Hart said, “[but] it’s never too late to … join FFA or start a business.”
FINALIST: Terrance Crayton, Alabama
Broken ag equipment can be a nightmare to deal with for even the most experienced farmers, but stalled engines, jammed lawnmowers and busted tractors allow people like Terrance Crayton make a living.
“Anything with a four-stroke engine is what I specialize in,” Crayton said.
When he joined the Wetumpka FFA chapter in Alabama, Crayton was already working on the project that would become his supervised agricultural experience (SAE): agricultural mechanics, repair and maintenance. He said it’s a family business — his father, grandfather, uncles and cousins are all mechanics of some kind.
“Initially, I was working with my grandfather,” said Crayton. “I would help him fix equipment and whatnot, and eventually [he] retired, so all of his customers came to me.”
Crayton now runs a small business repairing lawnmowers, tractors and more. As a bonus, he also intentionally purchases broken ag equipment so he can fix it for resale.
“I would get it, repair it, and I would turn around and resell it … and make profit, and re-invest into my business,” Crayton said.
He especially loves working on push mowers because “there’s really not a lot that goes wrong with them,” so it’s easy to find the problem and fix it, he said.
While his family taught him everything he knows about fixing engines, Crayton said his SAE never would’ve gotten off the ground without his agriculture teachers. Terrance actually plans to become an ag teacher himself someday, and that’s why he’s majoring in agriscience education at Auburn University with plans for a master’s degree.
“My SAE has allowed me to essentially pay my way through college,” he said. “I work full time, but I’ve used it to pay for books, new computers and other random stuff.”
Although education is his true passion, he said he has no plans to stop working as a mechanic on the side.
“Ag teachers don’t make a lot of money, so we’ve got to have our side gig,” Crayton said. “I think it’s a perfect one.”
Terrance said his best advice for FFA members working on their own SAE is to keep an open mind.
“I listened to my ag teacher, and I listened to those that had done it before me,” said Crayton. “It allowed me to get … where I’m at today.”
FINALIST: Cotton Booker, Washington
Auctioneers are known for selling fast and talking faster, but most schools don’t offer classes in auctioneering. So, how do people get into the business? For folks like Cotton Booker, it starts the day you’re born.
Booker, a member of Colfax FFA in the state of Washington, is a third-generation auctioneer who now runs his own contract auctioneering business. He estimates the number of auctions he’s worked for is between 300 and 400, but he said the exact number is so high he’s lost count.
“My grandfather started as an auctioneer in the 1960s, or even before that,” Booker said. “All of my dad’s brothers are auctioneers and … I have a lot of cousins that are auctioneers as well. And so that’s kind of how I learned.”
He said there are about a dozen auctioneering colleges in the United States — and they tend to see each other as friendly competition.
“Everyone has their preferred one or the one they recommend everyone to,” Booker said. “I don’t want to call it a rivalry, but [it’s] like college sports.”
Cotton studied at the World Wide College of Auctioneering in Iowa in 2016, and he’s currently majoring in agriculture business pre-law at Oklahoma State University. He said he’s proud of the working relationships he’s built in Washington, Oklahoma and elsewhere.
“That’s led me to great opportunities,” Booker said. “There’s a lot of trips on the plane, but it’s good.”
Besides auctioneering, Booker also does some real estate work with his father, and he’s interested in becoming an agriculture attorney after graduating from college. He said auctioneering will always be a part of his workload in some capacity, though.
Cotton’s advice for FFA members who want to start their own supervised agricultural experiences (SAE) is to seize opportunities now instead of waiting till later.
“Jump right into the game,” Booker said. “Don’t be afraid of it. A lot of people are going to help you.”
One helpful person was Booker’s ag teacher, Michael Heitstuman, who was instrumental in teaching Cotton the importance of record keeping.
“He’s just been there for me every step of the way,” Cotton said. “He’s helped me … sharpen my skills when it comes to putting it all on paper and showing the growth I’ve had over the years.”
FINALIST: Haden Handley, West Virginia
There are around 50,000 square miles of lawns in the United States, meaning green grass is technically the nation’s largest irrigated crop by area — and for people like Haden Handley of Buffalo FFA in West Virginia, managing all that grass is a way of life.
For his supervised agricultural experience (SAE), Handley is the owner and operator of H&H Lawn Care & Landscaping in the Kanawha Valley. He provides mowing, trimming, fertilizing and weed control services in addition to doing landscaping design and installations.
Lawns and landscapes aren’t his only specialty, though. When the grass is covered in snow in December, Handley also sells Christmas lights and firewood for his clients’ yuletide cheer. He’ll even put the lights up and take them down himself.
Handley started his business in 2018 while he was still in high school. At first, he was mowing lawns for only two customers, but rapid growth has already turned the business into Handley’s full-time career. H&H saw more than $50,000 of net income in 2021 — the same year Haden graduated from high school — and he’s still expanding it today.
“As the owner, I make all management decisions for the company,” Handley wrote in his American Star in Agribusiness application. “I have recently been working to brand my company by creating a custom logo, purchasing business cards, and selling H&H Lawn Care hats and apparel.”
The early days of H&H were tough, however. Creating a work schedule was an issue due to the death of someone close to Handley.
“A family friend who helped me get started in my mowing business passed away unexpectedly, which made creating the schedule my responsibility,” Handley wrote. “To address this issue, I determined how many lawns I could realistically mow in one week’s time, and I did not accept customers beyond that point.”
Now that he isn’t busy with school anymore, Handley will continue growing his clientele for the foreseeable future.
“I want to eventually expand the business throughout West Virginia,” he said. “FFA has truly shaped my life.”
The American Star Awards are sponsored by Case IH, Elanco Animal Health and Syngenta. For more information on the awards, visit FFA.org.
General convention sessions will air live on RFD-TV and The Cowboy Channel. FFA members and supporters can tune in and watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of the event. To learn more, visit Convention.FFA.org.
