The opportunities are endless when it comes to choosing a supervised agricultural experience (SAE), and no two SAEs are alike. We spoke with three FFA members whose SAEs relate to the winter season to find out what made their projects worthwhile and how they created magical experiences for people in their communities.
All three members used their projects to apply for and win state-level agricultural proficiency awards. Read about their projects and get further inspiration for your own SAE.
William Carver
William Carver of the Killingly FFA Chapter in Connecticut was only 6 years old when his family planted 1,500 Christmas trees on their 150-acre beef cattle and row crop farm. When Carver was a freshman in high school, his family decided he would take over the responsibility of caring for their 2.5 acres of Christmas trees. It took between seven and eight years for the trees to grow to a sellable height.
“For my SAE project, I sold Christmas trees, which consisted of caring for them, getting the field ready for customers and bailing and drilling customers’ trees,” says Carver, now 18. “Caring for them consisted of trimming or shaping them and also spraying the trees to prevent them from containing any detrimental organisms. When getting the field ready, I would mow between the trees so customers could walk between them with ease.”
During the holiday season, Carver welcomed customers to the farm to choose and cut their own tree. His inventory included Fraser firs, balsams and blue spruces.
“I would use a bailer to wrap their tree and drill the bottom so it could fit on a Christmas tree stand that has spikes in the center,” he says. “The best part about working with Christmas trees is the smell — and working with customers. Talking to customers helped me strengthen my communication skills.”
Carver graduated in 2022 and is pursuing a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Connecticut. He plans to continue helping his family with the Christmas tree business during the holiday season.
Britney Iacovetto
Britney Iacovetto of the Soroco FFA Chapter grew up helping on her family’s working cattle ranch, Saddleback Ranch, near Steamboat Springs, Colo.
“I’m the fifth generation on the ranch, so it’s been in my family a long time,” Iacovetto says. “Our ranch has an agritourism side where we offer guests activities such as cattle drives and horseback rides.”
During the colder months, Saddleback Ranch turns into a winter wonderland, offering snowmobile tours, snow tubing and winter horseback rides through snowy trees. Iacovetto focused her SAE on her work at the ranch.
“I’m a lead guide for our winter horseback rides. Depending on how busy we are, we try to have seven guests per guide,” she says. “It’s a two-hour ride and we offer one in the morning and one in the afternoon.”
Iacovetto also gives safety talks before rides, works as a backup snowmobile guide if a ranch employee is sick, and runs the lift at the ranch’s Yee-Haw snow tubing hill. Sometimes she serves chili in the lodge or runs the cash register. She enjoys connecting with visitors from all over the world.
“Not many people get to experience living on a ranch, so it’s cool when they come and I get to educate them on how a ranch is run in Colorado,” Iacovetto says. “I like showing people that this lifestyle is not lost.”
Lizzie Schmieg
At Kendallville Farm in south central Minnesota, Lizzie Schmieg helps raise, train and show reindeer during the holiday season.
“Primarily from Thanksgiving to Christmas, companies hire us to bring reindeer to events they host,” explains Schmieg of the Glencoe-Silver Lake FFA Chapter. “My job is to handle the reindeer, interact with the crowd and spread some holiday cheer.”
Schmieg landed her part-time job working with reindeer through a friend who had worked for the farm. She has now been working with the reindeer for seven years.
“The thing I enjoy most about working with reindeer is seeing the magic they spread. People always light up when they see them,” Schmieg says. “Bringing joy to people is the highlight of my year. Another big part is being able to watch the reindeer grow up. I work at the farm year-round, so I have the pleasure of seeing them grow from tiny calves to fully adult reindeer. I love seeing their personalities and all the goofy stuff they get up to with each other.”
Though she’s now attending her first year of college in Michigan, Schmieg plans to continue working with the reindeer each holiday season.
“I want to continue seeing the reindeer and the business grow and prosper,” she says. “And for those of you wondering, reindeer do fly — but only on Christmas Eve.”
