Presidents and members of FFA talk about goals and learning targets for the year 2024-2025.
By: Isabel Copeland and Ruby Houser
FFA stands for Future Farmers of America. At Future Farmers of America, students can participate in classes and a club. The program offers diverse pathways, such as Agricultural Mechanics where students can learn welding, woodwork, and construction.
Additionally, there’s the floral pathway that covers plant, animal science, floral design, and horticulture. Students have the flexibility to join as many classes as they like and can participate in the FFA club, which involves meetings, public speaking, and engaging activities such as raising livestock for fair exhibitions and taking part in community service.
Sadie Hemphill, ‘25, President of FFA, said, “One of the challenges was navigating because we had a new teacher and a new pathway, which was great, but there was just stuff that was new to us and a lot of new things that came with a class that we haven’t done before. So I think we are more experienced this year with what her pathway brings and how we need to be inclusive between both pathways of our chapter.”
Hemphill, a four-year member of FFA, served as the Vice President last year and is now excited to serve as the President for the new year.
“My plans for this year, a lot of the traditions that we do are already great, so we are keeping a lot of the same things that people love, and then again just trying to keep people involved with different public speaking things,” said Hemphill.
FFA is helpful because it gives students the opportunity to practice their public speaking and social skills. In addition, FFA will look forward to continuing the previous traditions and create new ones throughout the year.
“My goal for FFA for this year is to get as many people involved in our club as possible. We’re hoping to do some new things that we’ve never done before, so I want to get people involved in different aspects and hopefully new opportunities,” said Hemphill.
Asher Keck, ‘28, is in her first year being in Ag and FFA at Redwood. She is excited to see all the upcoming events.
Keck said, “We were really excited so many people wanted to be a part of FFA.”
Marileigh Coon, ‘25, the Vice President of FFA, said, “I’m just really excited for this year. I’m glad I have the opportunity to serve as an officer again. I really believe in everything that FFA likes to spread to the youth, and I’m sad that it’s my last year but I’m really excited to see what we do.”
Coon most recently served as President. She has now taken on the role of Vice President and is eagerly anticipating an exciting year ahead.
“Probably our biggest speaking competition of the year is our opening and closing contest, where teams of six get together and they do the opening and closing ceremonies of an FFA meeting, and in our chapter everybody, especially the upperclassmen, get really excited about it and I can’t wait to start doing practices for that,” said Coon.
teacher and FFA Advisor
Photo Gigantea
The opening and closing contests happen in October, where they have opportunities to practice honoring agricultural responsibilities and develop their leadership qualities. At the Tulare County Fair, they show off their livestock.
Mr. Coon, the Ag Mechanics teacher and Adviser for FFA, said, “My goals this year are first of all to have a super safe year.”
This year Mr. Coon and his team are excited to be building livestock equipment, trailers, and BBQ pits. He wants to make sure his students are aware of safety protocols to ensure his students safeties.
The school year 2023-2024 came to an awesome end, where lots of outstanding seniors graduated. With the new year and new freshmen that have joined the FFA program, he is excited to learn about their talents and what they offer to the program.
“Last year we had an outstanding group of juniors and seniors that were really leading the way. The juniors and seniors last year really accomplished everything they set out to,” said Mr. Coon.
Ruby Houser
Isabel Copeland
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