Assistant Editor

RUSHVILLE, Ind. — For the Rushville FFA Chapter of central Indiana, winning awards is great, but working hard to promote the FFA Organization is much more fun.

One particular week when fun-filled promotion hit an all-time high for Rushville and many other FFA chapters across the country is National FFA Week, Feb. 17-24.

Every year in late February, FFA members and local chapters plan specific activities to educate non-members about the benefits of the FFA organization, previously known as the Future Farmers of America. And while for many years there has not been an award to honor this week-long celebration, this year was different and especially exciting for the Rush County chapter.

According to Rushville Chapter Advisor Blair Orme, in July, the National FFA Organization named Rushville the winner of the first-ever FFA Week Contest for their outstanding activities and events during National FFA Week.

“We’ve always done a big FFA week, long before they had an award,” said Orme, who shared that the Rushville Chapter now boasts over 100 members, an exciting accomplishment for the small-town chapter.

He explained that he first heard about the contest through a daily glance at FFA website (www.ffa.org). From that point, Orme shared the contest details and left the decision making process with Rushville FFA’s executive committee, which includes seven officers and three committee chairs.

“Honestly, we just wanted to give it a try and see,” said Junior Denise Amos, who serves as the reporter for Rush-ville. “At the time, I didn’t think we had a great one (FFA week). But when we won, I realized what an impact we make and how we stood out from all the other chapters in the country.”

Orme said that Amos, along with the Rushville members submitted the application in March, which included a description of the activities, objectives associated with those activities and a booklet that included photos of the FFA week celebration in Rushville. “During FFA week our goal was to make sure that no student in the high school could possibly not know that it wasn’t FFA week,” said Orme.

Some of the pre-planning activities that led to Rushville’s success in the contest included a supplement in the town’s newspaper, the Rushville Republican promoting FFA week; the purchase of a billboard outside of town; and the mailing of a newsletter to parents and sponsors to help gain support for the week’s activities.

“Most students plan activities for FFA Week to begin on Monday, but ours runs a seven-day course,” said Orme, who added that students began preparations for FFA Week during Christmas break in December 2006.

Kicking off Monday Feb. 18 in blue and gold style, Orme said that Rushville FFA members decorated every detail of their high school in “Operation Decoration,” including the lockers, showcase displays, and streamers throughout the hallways and building ceilings.

“This was new this year for us and we had a lot of fun with it,” said Amos.

Additionally, students hosted a teacher appreciation dinner; a bowling party, in which members invited youngsters from Big Brothers, Big Sisters; conducted a radio segment at a local station about FFA; hosted an ice cream social event at the Boys and Girls Club; featured a recreation night; dress up days, such as wear Carhartts to Class Day and the final day wrapped up with the annual hog roast and dance, just to name a few.

“It was just a fun time for members, they even had a mechanical bull set-up,” said Orme. “While a lot of it was promotional activities, the events are also a great bonding experience for all the members,” Amos added. To recognize Rushville for their success, the National FFA Organization awarded the chapter a featured spot on an episode of FFA Today! that aired on RFDTV this past summer. Rushville FFA students, along with the regular program host, led a program on National FFA Week, discussing the meaning of FFA week, while sharing some of the winning-activities at Rushville that helped the chapter take home top honors.

“It was such a cool opportunity to share what our chapter has done, and then to see yourself later on television is really kind of awesome,” Amos said. “This win doesn’t only affect the Rushville chapter, but the whole ag community in our area. It’s special to us because we’re just a small town in Indiana.”

“There are so many chapters throughout the nation, when you look at the numbers it’s pretty amazing; so to know that we won it and beat all others is pretty cool,” said Junior Allison Wilson, who assisted in “Operation Decoration. “It was neat how everyone came together to make it such a great week.”

“The chapter was really proud of their accomplishment, it definitely helped boost morale of the students,” added Orme. “The award was really shared by the whole group as opposed to just a select individual, so many people experienced a piece of it. That was the real icing on the cake.”

Orme said that he is unsure if the contest will return next year, but if it does, he said that his chapter will compete and continue to promote the FFA Organization throughout the year and especially during FFA week next year.

For more details or to read more about the upcoming National FFA Convention, Oct. 24-27 in Indianapolis, Ind., visit www.ffa.org