The Franklin County Middle FFA and the Versailles FFA were named winners of the Model of Excellence award at the 95th National FFA Convention & Expo. The award recognizes chapters who show exemplary characteristics in all categories of growing leaders, building communities and strengthening agriculture.
Last September, the Franklin County Middle FFA in Carnesville, Ga. (pictured above), worked with their forest commission office for its first in-person meeting since February 2020. This was one of the highlights of their past year’s Program of Activities (POA), which they showcased during their Model of Excellence presentation.
“I just remember standing back and watching all of those kids and being so grateful to have them back in person and to be able to impart some knowledge about wildland fire safety,” Franklin County Middle FFA advisor, Anna Watkins said.
Secretary Callie Walker explained the importance of working as a team, especially when it comes to planning an entire year of activities. “It’s an officer team for a reason. It’s better to communicate and work together,” Walker said.
Chapter president Darby Roach also enjoyed being able to plan the POA with her team. While they came together for a common goal, “we were independent and we got to make our own decisions,” she said.
Executing chapter meetings is no easy feat, and chapter vice president Meghan Langley explained that, “The obstacles that we did face were timing and communication. Getting to know my girls and my officer team put us closer together when we had those obstacles.” Although it came with challenges, Langley said it was, “definitely an opportunity to serve my middle school chapter.”
For the Chapter and the Community
The Versailles FFA Chapter, in Versailles, Ohio, organized many events that served both their community as well as their chapter members. Their Family Farm Safety Night was chapter president Zoe Billenstein’s favorite event.
“We were able to see the benefits from this so clearly, as this was a response to a lot of tragic accidents within the area. We were able to definitely know that we made an impact on the community,” Billenstein said.
Part of receiving the top Model of Excellence honor is preparing a presentation for judges at national convention. Student advisor Colin Batten and Billenstein both practiced delivering their presentation to best highlight all the hard work they did over the past year with their POA.
Batten said that receiving the award, “feels really rewarding that those multiple months of practices in a row paid off.”
Along with offering thanks to their advisors, Dena Wuebker and Taylor Bergman, Billenstein acknowledged former vice president Delaney Barga for writing the Model of Excellence application and for, “putting in the many hours and a lot of work towards helping with this.”
