Growing Tradition: Maine FFA Celebrates National FFA Week

Throughout National FFA history, various celebrations have arisen to provide additional support and aid to the organization. Of these traditions, one of the most widely celebrated is National FFA Week. National FFA Week falls during the last week of February, and is focused on sharing the FFA message with community and partner organizations.

Due to the timing of this event, Maine FFA members have historically missed out on this celebration due to the timing of February vacation. However, this year, the state was proud to recognize this event for the first time in association history.

To kick off the week, the state officer team hosted members in northern Maine for an ice fishing social. Ice fishing is a large part of the social scene during this time of year statewide, and inviting members to fish together served as an opportunity for community engagement, as well as natural resource education.

The team traveled to meet members at Long Lake in Naples, Maine, where they spent a day ice fishing for species such as trout and salmon. For some members, this was their first ice fishing experience, which allowed them to learn from other members and establish connections with other members from neighboring chapters. The day was finished with a group lunch before heading home to prepare for the week ahead.

Following the ice fishing social, the state officer team, as well as members from the Easton FFA Chapter, had the privilege of meeting with National FFA Secretary Lilly Nyland. The group met for dinner at a local restaurant in Presque Isle, Maine, offering attendees the chance to get to know Nyland before their days of service.

On Monday, members from across northern Maine met at Easton High School for a day of service. This year, the state officer team decided to reach out to advisors and other community members to identify community needs which could be the premise of the service project. During this outreach, it was brought to the association’s attention that there was a great need for emergency response materials. This year, communities have been devastated by numerous fires that damaged homes, public spaces and farmland. Due to the fact that many of these communities are quite rural, emergency responders often can’t arrive before it is too late. To help, Maine FFA members spent the day packaging fire safety kits, which included smoke detectors, fire safety booklets, fire blankets and more.

“It was an amazing opportunity for us,” says Presque Isle FFA Member Maddy Brazier. “I always enjoy getting to be with my fellow members and friends of the FFA.”

The assembly of the kits were supervised by members of local fire departments, many of which were also former FFA members. By the end of the day, members packaged over 100 emergency response kits, which were later distributed throughout their home chapters. 

Following this event, Nyland, along with the state officer team, traveled down to Dexter, Maine, to host the state’s second day of service. On Tuesday, members from Fryeburg Academy, Lincoln Academy and Tri-County Technical Center met at the Dexter Fire Department to continue the service mission. Attendees received an informational speech from members of the fire department and were shown a demonstration about how to properly use a fire extinguisher. Members then came together to package over 100 emergency kits to be distributed across central and southern Maine.

Upon packing the kits, Lincoln Academy FFA member Amelia Starbird said, “Packing the kits was really fun. I can’t wait to distribute them to local middle schools in our area next week!” Once all kits were complete, FFA members got to experience moving workshops by both Maine FFA State Vice President Callie Cullins, as well as Nyland. 

Though it was the first time our state has hosted National FFA Week events, we are beyond proud of all the members, community supporters and sponsors who showed up to make it happen. We would like to extend our gratitude to Nyland and her national staff for joining us, as well as for being such a great role model for our members. For more information about National FFA Week, please visit https://www.ffa.org/national-ffa-week/.