Felicity-Franklin High School students and FFA members compete in Survivor Week challenges. Photo courtesy of Holly Jennings.
To engage FFA members and advisors as they create or refine their chapter’s Program of Activities (POA), this article is part of a three-part series that recognizes the 2024 National FFA Premier Chapters. This month spotlights Felicity-Franklin FFA in Ohio, which received top honors in the Building Communities category during the 97th National FFA Convention & Expo.
During a chapter officer retreat in September 2022, the then-president of Felicity-Franklin FFA had a flat tire on her car. She had a spare, but didn’t know what to do.
“She asked [the boys in the group] if they could hook up a truck and trailer,” says the chapter’s advisor, Holly Jennings. “That started a conversation between the officers about what they knew, what they didn’t and what real-world skills their peers might also not know.”
This idea sharing later became “Survivor Week: Creating Capable Cardinals,” a school-wide event hosted by the Ohio FFA chapter. Officers developed the event’s overall theme and curriculum for each station, and the inaugural event was held that December during the week before holiday break when the high school operates on an altered schedule.
Participating students rotated through hands-on, activity-based skills stations. The event was such a hit that it was held again in 2023 with station enhancements, including airing up and changing a tire, using jumper cables to start a car, filling up a car with gas, hooking up a trailer, calculating a tip at a restaurant, tying a tie, ironing, couponing and how to react when pulled over at a traffic stop.
A Survivor Week volunteer (left) teaches a Felicity-Franklin High School student (right) how to jump-start a car. Photo courtesy of Holly Jennings.
“Rotations were 30 minutes each to appeal to students’ attention span,” Jennings says. “We did a relay race at the end of the week, where the students formed teams and received a score based on accuracy and speed when completing each activity.”
Student-Focused Success
Members’ hard work paid off. Felicity-Franklin FFA was named the 2024 Premier Chapter: Building Communities out of the 10 chapters selected as finalists in this National FFA award category, sponsored by John Deere and Case New Holland.
“This activity was developed by students, for students, and I believe that’s one reason it was so successful,” Jennings says. “We got a lot of great feedback from parents, and because it was a collaborative effort with the teachers, students got to see how much the teachers care about them beyond the classroom.”
Felicity-Franklin FFA members and students practice counting change during the 2024 Survivor Week. Photo courtesy of Holly Jennings.
In 2024, the chapter put a fresh spin on Survivor Week by focusing on safety. Emergency responders, professionals and qualified adults in the community covered various safety-related topics, such as CPR and how to stop bleeding. At the end of the event, participating students received certifications upon completing activities and trainings.
“Survivor Week has brought a lot of positivity within our community, both inside and outside the school,” Jennings says. “It was really exciting to have student work honored with the Premier Chapter award.”
More to Explore
Finding success in the National Chapter Award Program starts with developing a strong POA. Bookmark this helpful infographic about all things POA for future reference.
