FFA officers ready to roll into March

Between the chartering of new FFA chapters, celebrations of FFA Week, announcements of District Golden Owl Award recipients, convention preparation and chapter banquets, February brought many blessings. We feel “lucky” and ready to “shamrock and roll” as we enter March.

Feb. 15-22 marked National FFA Week, complete with daily social media challenges and activities in Illinois FFA. The state officers traveled approximately 1,500 miles all over the state to participate in FFA Week festivities, from northern Illinois in Scales Mound to southern Illinois in Goreville.

Illinois FFA’s social media pages received more than 2,750 interactions, meaning that thousands of people across the state and country shared their personal FFA stories in celebration of the National FFA Organization.

District Golden Owl Award recipients were named around National FFA Week. These awardees consist of well-respected agriculture teachers and FFA advisers who are selected through a nomination process.

Congratulations to the 2025 Illinois FFA District Golden Owl Award recipients: District 1, Darin Blunier; District 2, Jessica Chipman; District 3, Ralph Allen; District 4, Kirsten Wyatt; and District 5, Jeff Robison.

These five individuals will move on to the final round of selection through interviews to determine the Illinois Ag Educator of the Year, announced in June.

Several FFA chapters have already completed their banquets, where they recognize achievements and supporters, provide reports, host fundraisers and join their communities together to celebrate local FFA.

Many chapters request state officers to attend their events to assist with the evening and provide keynotes. Each keynote speech is carefully crafted by the state officers to fit the general banquet audience and showcase specific lessons learned within each state officer’s life.

With less than three months until the gavel drops at state convention, preparation is in full swing and currently focused on scripting. State officers and staff hold multiple sessions each week to fine-tune every script, video and retiring address with great attention to detail and purposeful phrasing.

In the realm of competitions, each of the five districts recently held their Agriscience Fairs and Proficiency record book contests, narrowing the field to the district winners who will compete at the state competition on March 22 at Mt. Zion High School.

State Awards Day is impressive, gathering 291 of the state’s top talent in record books and more than 300 volunteer judges at a single event.

Also with competitions lately, the state meats, vet science and agriculture education contests were held with assistance from section presidents and state officers.

All 25 section presidents and five state officers joined together for two days of meetings, contest help and volunteer assistance at the Illinois Products Expo.

While large events and projects consume much of the week, each day is different and complete with new opportunities daily.

In the past month, state officers have represented Illinois FFA at farm conferences, breakfasts, college alumni visits, county Farm Bureau events and commodity group gatherings.

Coming up, the state officers will help with State Awards Day and Middle School conferences. They will also travel to Gatlinburg for the Tennessee FFA State Convention and across the state for more chapter banquets.

During National Ag Literacy Week from March 17-21, state officers and section presidents will read “The Soil in Jackie’s Garden” to elementary students across the state to teach kids about soil, FFA and agriculture, with appropriate timing as the planting season approaches.

Sidney Stiers from the Williamsfield FFA Chapter is the 2024-2025 Illinois Association FFA state reporter.