FFA officers and parents work together to plan upcoming events.

The Neodesha FFA Chapter and its junior officers gathered on a Sunday evening in Kansas with their parents to celebrate their accomplishments. At this event, parents were briefed on how many hours these officers have put in during the first semester of the school year, along with an introduction of all officers and their duties, and played a friendly game of FFA-themed Jeopardy.

“It was a great learning experience for our chapter members’ parents because it showed them how much time and investment is going into our chapter from our officers, and it shows our parents how devoted they are to FFA,” says Neodesha FFA Chapter Sentinel Colton Newton. “Plus, it demonstrated the idea of how FFA is a student-led organization, not led by adults.” 

Since many parents are FFA Alumni, it showed them the growth of the chapter. Chapter President Cooper Springer, for example, expressed appreciation for learning about how the chapter looked when his dad was an FFA officer.

“It is very eye-opening to see the evolution of the chapter since my dad was a Neodesha FFA officer,” Springer says. “Since then, the program has evolved in the fact that there is a larger percentage of non-agriculture background students now than there was in the 1980s.”

Neodesha FFA advisors Michael and Hannah Adame organized the event, and the outlook was extremely positive. They hope to continue to host this event annually for officers and their parents.