Rooted in agriculture

Flathead FFA Chapter still going strong after 78 years

Flathead and Glacier high schools have their own identities and their own school colors, but there's one organization that draws loyalty from both schools - Flathead FFA.

Every day, students from both high schools spend a few class periods at the H.E. Robinson Vocational-Agricultural Center and are members of the Flathead FFA Chapter.

This week, those students and hundreds of thousands of others across the country will celebrate National FFA Week.

Montana students have been part of the national organization for the last 78 years, though agriculture has been an element of their school experience for much longer.

Agriculture has been part of Kalispell's high school culture for the last century. Federal funding for vocational-agriculture programs began with the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917, but Flathead County High School offered ag classes before that and had an ag club in the early 1900s.

Flathead FFA began in 1930, the year the Montana organization was chartered and received funding from the national organization, then known as Future Farmers of America. Its purpose, following the national model, was to give boys the skills they would need to run the family farm.

Women were allowed national membership in 1969. In 1988, the group changed its name to the National FFA Organization to better reflect "the reality of agriculture," FFA adviser Justin Heupel said.

"Agriculture doesn't end with farming; that's where it begins," he said.

There are 300 careers in agriculture, he added.

"Farming is one. Ranching is one," he said. "That leaves 298."

Advances in technology have changed agriculture and added jobs to the industry, he said. Current and future energy demands and the production of biofuels may further increase the number of agricultural career opportunities.

About 60 to 70 percent of Kalispell's vo-ag students pursue an ag degree in college, Heupel said, and graduates go on to a wide variety of agriculture-related careers. Some run agriculture businesses; others manage ranches. One graduate landed a marketing job with Kraft Foods.

TODAY, more than 300 students - 10 percent of Montana's FFA roster - belong to the Flathead FFA chapter, making it the largest in the state.

Not all are active members, Heupel said. All students who attend classes at the vo-ag center are automatically listed on the state FFA roster, but the level of participation is up to the individual. Heupel estimates that 95 percent of the vo-ag seniors are actively involved in FFA.

Those who aren't actively involved attend classes at the vo-ag center for two or three periods a day.

Freshmen take an agriculture elective class, English and science. Sophomores take ag and English. Juniors and seniors take a two-period block of ag classes.

Freshmen comprise the bulk of the ag program; this year, there are six sections of ninth-graders. There is only one section of seniors with about 30 students.

Classes typically dwindle over the course of four years, Heupel said. Some of the decline is due to loss of interest, but "what we see more often is that when they get to be juniors, it's hard to fit two periods of ag into their schedule and still make up all the credits they need to graduate."

Many students take ag as freshmen simply to earn the vocational credit required for graduation, Flathead senior and chapter vice president Megan Lynch added.

Some students, like Lynch, remain in the program throughout their high school careers. She said she came to the vo-ag center to "get out of the regular school experience."

In most classrooms, students spend the bulk of their time reading from textbooks, she explained. In the ag program, she got more hands-on experience working outside at the vo-ag center than she would have at the high school.

THE VO-AG center sits on a 100-acre farm south of Kalispell. For the last three decades, Flathead County has allowed the Kalispell school district to use the land.

At the farm, students raise hogs, cattle and sheep. One horse currently shares the pasture as well.

In the summer, students change sprinklers and cut hay. Sophomores raise a variety of plants in the school greenhouse and hold a sale each year before Mother's Day.

The farm is the FFA chapter's fundraiser, Heupel said. Unlike other student organizations that work concession stands or host fundraising events, the bulk of FFA's finances depend on the success of the student farm.

That money pays for student trips and competitions. About 100 Flathead FFA members compete in career development events that test their knowledge and proficiency in a variety of skills. The team and individual events cover everything from agronomy to floriculture to parliamentary procedure.

In each event, the top team in the state competes at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis in October. So far this year, the Flathead chapter has two state champion teams: Meats Evaluation and Technology and Horse Evaluation.

Lynch, a member of the national Horse Evaluation team, said the opportunity to travel for competitions and being part of an organization was one of the things that drew her to FFA in the first place.

"I think that's the biggest thing to do with high school," she said. "Do something. Get involved with something.

"In FFA, there's always something going on."

On the 'Net: www.ffa.org

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com