By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

NORMAL, Ill. — A relatively new high school Illinois FFA chapter is in the running for two prestigious national awards during the 2019 FFA National Convention, being held Oct. 30-Nov. 2 in Indianapolis. Led by agriscience teacher and FFA advisor Liz Harris, the Normal FFA chapter gained its nominations for Model of Excellence and Premier Chapter for Building Communities largely via community service projects of benefit to their town’s citizens — both human and canine.

“The Model of Excellence nomination means that we are among the Top 10 FFA chapters in the country. At nationals, each of the top 10 chapters will give a presentation and be interviewed. The judges will pick the top chapter in the country,” Harris explained.

Normal FFA’s Premier Chapter for Building Communities nomination was a result of their involvement and relationship with the community, according to chapter member Kelsey Kern. “We were nominated specifically for our Towels for Howls project, which is a community service activity where we collect donations for two animal shelters within our area,” she said. “As part of their supervised agricultural experience, some of our members would volunteer at the animal shelters and they saw some of the needs that these shelters have. As a chapter, we thought that we could help provide some of those needs.”

After communicating their project to the community and school, team members immediately received donations of more than 50 items which they delivered to Wishbone Canine Rescue and the Humane Society of Central Illinois. Among the items: towels, toys, blankets, leashes, treats and dog food. The project is still active.

FFA National Premier Chapter Awards are handed out in categories of growing leaders, building communities and strengthening agriculture. The top 10 chapters in each division receive a recognition plaque, with a top premier chapter chosen in each category by FFA judges. Ten high school chapters are chosen as Model of Excellence chapters, also for exemplary qualities in categories of growing leaders, building communities and strengthening agriculture. Only three-star chapters are eligible for these awards.

This is the first year the Normal FFA team, which was established in 2012, has received a national FFA award nomination. Having received two this year, team members and their advisor are understandably excited.

“We are a very young chapter and were shocked to find that we were nominated. Some of these (competing) chapters have been with FFA since the beginning,” said Harris, who has served as chapter advisor since 2014 “We are very blessed and excited to be nominated for this award considering our short history. It’s always a highlight to go to the national convention, and this year we have these two teams competing as well as an ag communications team that has been preparing to compete for several months.”

Of the Normal FFA Chaper’s 110 members, less than five have actual on-farm experience; this number is up from the class of 2018’s two farm-family members. “We are a very urban program, with a Bloomington-Normal population of around 130,000. Though we consider Bloomington-Normal to be an agricultural hub, there was no call or need for FFA until it was finally established eight years ago,” said Harris.

Chapter member Madelyn Hubble said she initially joined the fledgling Normal FFA program to further her dream of becoming a veterinarian. “While that has changed, the opportunities that FFA has given me, as well as the amazing things that I have learned and experienced, has kept me wanting to perhaps pursue a career in agriculture, but definitely pursue this program as far as I can,” she said.

Kern joined the program due to her strong passion for environmental science and health. “I have learned environmental health has a lot to do with agriculture and they go hand in hand. I’ve been able to learn a lot about leadership and the career field that I am interested in,” Kerr explained.

The Normal FFA Chapter is a model of diversity, according to its student advisor. “As an urban school and chapter we are really accepting of people of all different backgrounds and are making a push for their inclusion. One of the things we did was post a photo on Facebook that really highlighted the inclusion of all students in our chapter, and it is something that we are really proud of that makes our chapter kind of unique,” Harris said.

“There are stereotypes about FFA that they don’t want to include groups like LBGTQ community, and we felt that we wanted to make a stand to show that we definitely include everyone here, especially in our chapter,” added Hubble.