Keeping up with the Pierce FFA Festivities
By Ella Gaes
The Pierce FFA chapter had a very busy schedule throughout the past weeks, hosting FFA week. To begin, FFA week incorporates all of Pierce Public Schools by encouraging everyone at the high school to participate in different dress up days and involving the elementary school with a fun activity.
Moving right into Monday, the student body was encouraged to wear flannels. The officer team traveled down the hill later in the morning to visit the elementary where they let everyone know what Pierce FFA is all about. Every year the FFA includes the elementary in an agriculture related coloring contest. This year the best colored tractor coloring page out of each grade was rewarded with a little tractor toy provided by Manzer Equipment out of Osmond. They ended the assembly with a milk cheer that the students loved.
FFA president, Haiden Magnussen, dressed up as a cow when he talked to the elementary school students. He commented, “FFA week is a special week that the officer team spends a lot of time planning out. I think it’s a great way for our community to understand what FFA really is. I also enjoyed teaching the kids at the elementary about agriculture.”
The annual farmer olympics was held in the gym right after the officers arrived back at the high school. This assembly includes a relay race of farm related items where the closest grades go up against each other, followed by the FFA officer team versus the teachers.
On Tuesday, the dress up day was to dress like a dad day, and the FFA chapter dressed like Mr. Neal. His typical day-to-day outfit includes khakis and his dark blue FFA quarter-zip. This was also the day FFA members drove their tractors to school. This year nearly 20 tractors parked in the school’s parking lot. After school, a parade was led down Main Street.
Wednesday’s dress up day was to wear as much denim as possible. Some of the officer team traveled to Kearney for the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Classic event where they received first place for the third year in a row. Brielle Unseld, Ella Gaes, and Haiden Magnussen were the officers who earned a scholarship for the presentation and quality of their speech, while other members tagged along to get more information and help write the speech.
On Thursday, FFA members were to wear their official dress while everyone else could wear blue and gold. Later that day the whole chapter congregated in the gym and they took their chapter picture.
Friday started bright and early with a community breakfast hosted by the officer team. Everyone wore their camo on the last dress up day. For lunchtime, Manzer Equipment generously provided lunch for the whole chapter while informing FFA members about job opportunities in the agriculture field.
All FFA members came back strong the next week for District CDEs (Career Development Events) which took place at Northeast Community College. Results are featured in the CDE story.
A fun little event has also been added to the FFA schedule. On March 10, the Battle Creek FFA organization hosted an FFA dance for several of the different chapters in our district.
In the near future, the Pierce FFA organization is excited to announce they will be hosting the first annual career builder benefit on March 16. A social will begin at 5:30 with dinner to follow. There will be a silent auction fundraiser to select members for the opportunity to job shadow their future career aspirations.
Later in the month, from March 29-31, select members will travel to Lincoln for the state FFA convention. Members will be competing in events, receiving awards, and attending breakout sessions.
Advisor Matthew Neal comments, “It feels good to have made it through a really busy time of year. This year is unique because all of the deadlines and dates were earlier than normal, which created more crunch time to prepare for competitions, but our chapter handled this very well.”
The mission of FFA is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agriculture education.
