By establishing a sporting clay shooting team and hosting a local competition, the Mooreland FFA in Mooreland, Okla., unlocked a new recruitment tool that piqued the interest of several students who quickly became chapter members.
“In Oklahoma, sporting clays is our No. 1 FFA activity, so it was a priority to bring it to the Mooreland FFA,” says Chip Laubach, who began serving as the Mooreland FFA advisor in June 2022 and brought prior experience in shooting sports to his new role. “We’re in an area where lots of people like to hunt, so clay shooting interests many high schoolers. Plus, it’s not uncommon in Oklahoma for students to get scholarships in shooting sports and compete at the collegiate level.”
Although Laubach led the charge, he says he could have never gotten the Mooreland FFA sporting clay shooting program off the ground without his members’ hard work and the Mooreland community’s generosity.
“We were able to purchase guns and supplies thanks to donations from parents, funds raised by students, sponsor support from Farm Credit and a bank in our area, money supplied by our city council and our police department’s help in securing a safe practice space,” Laubach says. “All of this helped make it possible for us to launch our program in September 2022 and host our competition, the Bearcat Clay Blast, in October 2022.”
Along with attracting teams of FFA members from across the chapter’s district and beyond, the Bearcat Clay Blast drew dozens of spectators, including Mooreland High School students who weren’t involved in FFA.
“The Bearcat Clay Blast was a great way to recruit new members because it included an activity lots of kids wanted to try, and it just happened to be something we do in FFA,” says Laubach, who also notes that Mooreland FFA membership has nearly doubled since launching the sporting clay shooting program. “The event opened the door to FFA for students who may never have considered joining, and now they’re seeing all the opportunities available to them.”
The resounding success of the Mooreland FFA sporting clay shooting program and Bearcat Clay Blast has inspired the formation of local middle school trapping and shooting teams, with members likely to funnel directly into FFA once they enter high school.
“FFA has the potential to change kids’ lives, and the sooner they can get involved, the better,” Laubach says. “It’s crucial to show students that FFA is about far more than livestock and crops — there’s something for everyone. Once they see that and get involved, the sky’s the limit.”
