FELICITY, Ohio – For the first time in its nearly 70-year history, the Felicity-Franklin FFA chapter has won a national chapter award from the organization.

The 119-member chapter in southwestern Ohio was named the 2024 Premier Chapter: Building Communities during the National FFA Convention in October.

“This category recognizes the top chapters with innovative activities that help build communities,” explained Holly Jennings, agriculture instructor and FFA adviser at Felicity-Franklin High School. “Our activity was within the citizenship category. Citizenship activities are conducted to encourage members to become active, involved citizens of their school, community and country.”

The chapter hosted Survivor Week, a school-wide event where high school students worked through real-world activities to learn hands-on skills and create capable citizens, she said. The Survivor Week Committee saw a need to provide activities for students to be better-prepared citizens by learning life skills that would help them become contributing members of their community, Jennings said.

“This activity has students rotate through nine hands-on stations where they learn real-life skills from teachers,” she noted. “Stations included how to jump a car, hook up a trailer, use a fire extinguisher, and properly secure a ratchet strap. The idea was generated at an officer retreat when one of the officers got a flat tire. She didn’t know how to change the tire or if she even had a spare.

“Other teams were shocked with her lack of knowledge. However, she quickly pointed out that she knew how to hook up several types of trailers and they did not. The team quickly jumped at the idea of helping to teach these real-life skills that they didn’t learn anywhere else.”

The goal was to provide training for all the high school students and then test their knowledge at the end of the week with a relay race where all students were accountable for demonstrating at least one activity, Jennings said.

“The officers were excited that their hard work was recognized on a national level and could be used as a model for other chapters across the country,” she said. “This truly was an activity created by students for students.”

Emma Brandenburg, a chapter member, said, “We had worked so hard on this activity and (it) was just so, so rewarding. This was not expected, but I am so glad that all of our hard work paid off and we got to share our story of how we are impacting and changing students’ lives for the better.”

Survivor Week is just one of the many activities the chapter conducts throughout the year, Jennings pointed out. Those activities include an elementary ag night, a job readiness event, a healthy lifestyle event, cemetery cleanup, and a bed and bedding drive, along with several fundraisers.

The Felicity-Franklin FFA chapter was formed in 1956. She said the chapter has been a top 10 national finalist several times in the last 10 years. In 2022, they were a top three chapter, Jennings added.

Felicity-Franklin’s officer team planned their activities for the last academic year during August 2023, she said. Committees later formed and activities were planned with other members. In spring 2024, the officers completed the national chapter application.

The top 10 percent of each state’s applications get forwarded to the national level, she said. More than 900 applications nationally are evaluated. The top 10 finalists are announced in each category, and later the top three. The top chapter is announced live on stage at the convention, Jennings said.

FFA is the premier youth organization preparing members for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture, she noted. “We are growing the next generation of leaders who will change the world. Whether students land a job or a hobby in agriculture, we know that they will always be consumers of agriculture.”