| PETE
CLARKE - PCLARKE@SIERRASTAR.COM
PETE CLARKE/SIERRA STAR
The flowered entrance to the six-and-a-half acres of agriculture facility
of Yosemite High’s FFA, was landscaped by FFA members.
SUBMITTED
From left to right, proud FFA members who earned State Degress: Bridget
Olsten, (Mr. Steve Ecklund), Hollie Shreve, Heather Plumb, and Ashley
Vetter.
SUBMITTED
From left to right, incoming FFA officers for the Year 2003-2004: Secretary
Shannon Smith, Reporter Ashley Vetter, President Heather Plumb, (2002-2003
State FFA Vice President Ann Marie Kiener), Treasurer Castin Ecklund,
Sentinel Crystal Hubbard, and Vice President Hollie Shreve.
SUBMITTED
Steve and Shannon Ecklund share a gourmet moment at the Yosemite Future
Farmers of America awards ceremony and new officer installation banquet.
New head of
program
Steve Ecklund had already been running a Future Farmers of America (FFA)
program in Williams for five years when an opening popped up to head the
department at Yosemite High School. Friends in the ag community told him
that the FFA program at the moderate sized high school in the Sierras
was a “sleeping giant.” Ecklund was not only intrigued, he took the job
and moved his family — four children, Castin 15, Travis 13, Nash 12, Lauren,
six, and his wife Shannon — to sixty acres in Ahwahnee. Two weeks after
his arrival, teams of YHS students went to an ag-competition in the valley.
They did not fare very well. The program was sleeping, yes, but giant?
Not at the moment. Ecklund had work to do.
Ecklund’s students now follow a three-part model: regular classroom work
on the YHS campus proper, FFA activities at both the ag facility and at
fairs, and personal projects which require self-study and discipline.
Steve and Shannon Ecklund run five of their 50 acres as a farm operation,
which is also used for field study by FFA classes. The enterprise has
10 breeding sows, six varieties of show chickens, bantams, ducks, sheep
and a garden.
Over the past three years since his arrival, despite being hindered by
continuous construction projects around the agricultural compound and
by a reduction of facility size from 25 acres to six and a half acres,
the student part of the FFA program has thrived. There are over120 FFA
members at YHS, more than 60 of them are freshmen — 10 percent of the
YHS student body are members of FFA.
YHS teams have dominated in the competitions they have entered. They go
to three fairs; the Madera District Fair, The Cow Palace Jr. Nationals,
and the Chowchilla County Fair. In sectional competition they compete
against the tough, large sectional schools like Fresno, Sanger, and Clovis.
Contrary to popular opinion, the competition and fairs are not simply
about walking cattle and sheep to get brightly colored ribbons.
Program success
stories
Against 13 other schools this year, they won the Co-op Marketing Contest
where the kids demonstrate their skill in the difficult task of applying
marketing techniques to projects — they crunch numbers on calculators
to develop viable business plans. The same team won the Sectional Banking
Contest. Any skill that a banker would need to have, the members of the
team are expected to know. “They calculate depreciation rates, interest
rates, federal land bank law systems and technicalities,” said Ecklund.
In addition the freshman team won the Opening and Closing contest. “They
just tore up the competition,” said Ecklund.
The program also had other sectional individual winners. The kids won
in Diversified Live Stock Production and in Poultry Production. Those
who won showed the complex details of their projects. Holly Shreve won
the poultry competion with a project buying baby ducks wholesale and selling
them retail. She made back twice her investment in twenty four hours.
Kim Youman won the diversified category — she has shown lambs, pigs, steers,
she rides horses and works with goats.
An FFA member won at the advanced level, where it is as much about the
person as it is about the animal. Kim Youman earned Master of Showmanship
this year. She had been runner-up for several years and finally took home
top honors.
In the old
days
“In the old days our kids were laughed at when we showed up at fairs.
For the past several years we’ve gotton respect,” said Ecklund. Consequently,
for the past two years, the Yosemite High FFA chapter has won best Sectional
Small Program of the year. This was voted on by Ecklund’s peers from the
other sectional school FAA programs. Also five kids have earned the prestigious
State Degree, which normally only three percent of the participating kids
in the nation earn. It is based on strict record keeping, where income
from each student project is tracked by thorough bookkeeping.
One student, Mark Stephens even won an American Degree. According to Ecklund,
“That’s a huge award. You don’t even get the award until after you graduate,
because books are run through December.” The AG program runs on a fiscal
year — January to December. To win the award a student has to continue
his or her project through the December after graduation — seven additional
months in the face of new obligations like work or college. In addition,
an American Degree earner must have been in the program for all four years
and have made at least $7,500.
The FFA began in 1928. It was built on entrepreneurism — money and profit;
how big you’ve built your program’s bottom line. Everything is chronicled
by bookkeeping.“We have a stairstep program,” said Ecklund. There are
four levels. The Greenhand Degree is for starting freshman, the sophomores
try to earn a Chapter Degree, and Juniors shoot for the State Degree level.
“After they graduate, we try to get students into the American Degree.”
At the recent FAA Awards and New Officer Banquet in Coarsegold recently,
Ashley Vetter turned over her presidency to Heather Plumb. Both girls
spoke boldly and with confidence during the ceremonies. Yet, according
to Ecklund, when they started in the program each of the girls was terribly
shy and afraid of public speaking. What better example could there be
of a successful program than the positive transformation of its members.
At the banquet a large number of awards were given out, many of them by
corporate sponsors. The new officers who accepted positions were: President
Heather Plumb, Vice President Hollie Shreve, Secretary Shannon Smith,
Treasurer Castin Ecklund, Reporter Ashley Vetter, and Sentinal Crystal
Hubbard.
Still not
enough?
Considering all the accomplishments of the program, it is surprising that
at the beginning of the year, the FFA was not listed in the pamphlets
given out to new parents. They are rarely recognized by the school that
houses them, despite their many proud achievements. Ag just isn’t sexy
enough — perhaps too much brain and hard work. Traditionally athletic
programs have always gotten the glory. They also usually cost the most.
Two percent of the nation’s farmers provide 20 percent of the jobs.
So one of the largest challenges still remains — changing the public’s
perception of FFA members — the students are often viewed as being tobacco
chewing hicks, cowboys, or sod-busters. On the contrary, they are all
entrepreneurs who are learning dozens of positve character traits and
skills including: leadership, responsibility, poise, persistence, discipline,
decision making, patience, organization, communication, goal setting and
goal achievement, scheduling, budgeting, the practical application of
the science, team work, public speaking, salesmanship, bookkeeping, profit
and loss, banking. In short they are developing back bone and character
and are learning an array of skills that will aid them well in the years
following graduation, whatever professional directions they may take.
Need something done? Ask an FFA member.
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