American FFA Degree

The American FFA Degree is the highest honor that can be achieved as an FFA member. This final step in the FFA Degree system encourages students to grow, achieve, and establish themselves in an agricultural career. Attaining the American FFA Degree requires a solid commitment to agriculture and FFA.

2010 American Degree Applications

E-mail addresses are required for the American Degree application process for 2010. An e-mail address can be sued only once per year. For example, if an advisor submits his e-mail address for one of his chapter's applicants, this e-mail cannot be used again for another applicant.

In 2010 the e-mail notification will not be sent by the online registration system. It will be sent by Rosalie Hunsinger or Deborah Sellers. All convention information regarding complimentary tickets, etc. will be sent to the e-mail address provided for the recipient. To avoid missing this important information make sure you have both rhunsinger@ffa.org and dsellers@ffa.org as allowed to send e-mail to your e-mail address.

We will be posting this information via Facebook and Twitter in order to reach the over 3,000 applicants from all states. If you have any questions please contact Rosalie Hunsinger, 317-802-4255 or rhunsinger@ffa.org.

Application Requirement

Directed Lab/SAE Hours:
In reviewing applications for awards and degrees, applicants sometimes present a completely unrealistic number of hours dedicated to directed lab/SAE. In a single year, a person working a full time 40 hour per week job will work a total 2080 hours (52 weeks   X    40 hours  =   2,080). In order to assist students and teachers in evaluating students Directed Lab/Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) hours, it is important to consider the hours a student must also dedicate to school, sleep, etc.  See the directed lab document for further information.

Photo Information

Photo proofs of American Degree Recipients backstage/onstage will be sent to the address listed on the American Degree recipient's application. If not received by mid-November, please contact Chappell Photography at www.chappell.com or 1-800-424-3686.

American Degree Recipient Downloadable Information

A letter for an American FFA Degree spons - Case IH

A letter from one of the American FFA Degree sponsors - Syngenta.

More information from Syngenta.

Click here to see the list of 2009 American FFA Degree recipients.

Program Updates

E-mail address
americandegree@ffa.org


American Degree Application:
The American Degree application template now includes a line to enter the phonetic pronunciation of the recipient's name on Cover Page A. If your student filled out the application before this line was added, please have them fill out and print Cover Page A only. Any questions, contact americandegree@ffa.org

American Degree Application Due Date Change: June 15, 2010

American Degree Application Submission:
Due to limited filing space, we ask you not put a cover on the American Degree application when submitting itto the national FFA center. A staple in the top left hand corner will suffice. Report covers and bindings take up more filing space then the single staple requested.  (Exception: if  you are applying for a Star award and this application is included with the Star Battery it is all right to put in a binder as these applications go through several hands in the judging process.) 

American Degree Application Reference Assistance

The American Degree application at times seems very complex; to assist you, we have formatted a Microsoft Office Excel workbook for easy reference.  Click on the links provided on the main page to either go to the whole application , or breakdowns by area.  Also included in the workbook are “Common Questions” and a “glossary” of words in the American Degree handbook. Click here for the Application Reference document.

Student FAQs

What is a Rubric?
Rubrics are used by judges to score your application.  Get a step ahead and score it yourself to see where you need to improve your application.

How can I ensure I am eligible?
Open or print the Eligiblity Requirements information. After completing your application, use the American Degree Review sheet to ensure all information, applications and signatures required for application submission has been completed.

WHOLE NUMBERS (New Feature)
Every cell that has a monetary value. To avoid corruption of calculations we have put a warning on every monetary value cell to only put WHOLE NUMBERS, no decimals. If a decimal point or accidental space is entered, the warning box will pop up.

Applications not showing a zero in the cells that hold numbers. 
Due to the new calculation that only allows "Whole Numbers" to be entered, the zeros do not show up in the number cells.  This is across the board and all applications will appear the same.

Program Acknowledgements

The American Degree handbook has been made possible by the special project sponsors of the American FFA Degree program. Prepared and published as a service to state and local agricultural education agencies by the National FFA Organization, a national student organization chartered by Congress as an integral part of instruction in agriculture.

United States Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202
Printed spring, 2000

Sponsored by: