Imbler FFA Giving Youth a Future at FFA Nationals
By Garrett Christensen on Wednesday, December 7th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
IMBLER – FFA isn’t just an agriculture organization, though that is a major piece of it. Whether students find a perfectly laid path straight to a post high school career in ag or simply don the blue and gold for a few short years before moving in a totally different direction, the FFA is here to set them up for success. FFA National Convention serves as a culminating moment for that success, testing all they’ve learned, celebrating those who are ready to move on, and bringing together fellow FFA members from across the nation to participate. Eastern Oregon students were no exception, going above and beyond in both competitions at nationals and their own personal goals. Continuing the series of sharing the experiences of Eastern Oregon’s FFA chapters at Nationals, and their thoughts on the greater FFA, is the Imbler chapter.
Like Joseph, Imbler had an exemplary performance at nationals, coming in bronze overall in Aag issues, ranking as a 1-star national chapter, and having student teams place in various divisions under the national agriscience fair and proficiencies categories. A full list of participants for each category can be found here.
Of course, it’s not just about the numbers and rankings next to each category that makes them significant, but the reason and drive the students had for pursuing those subjects in the first place. Imbler FFA members Paige Braseth, Eva Paulson, Ellie Turley and Keira Counsell gave some insight into what they were working on leading up to nationals and why it interested them.
Braseth and Paulson, who came in 5th overall in the Power, Technical and Social Systems category, division 2, examined the effectiveness of solar power vs traditional electrical generation as related to agriculture. The idea initially started as a regular class project for Imbler but the two were encouraged to modify it into an agriscience project after encouragement from Imbler FFA advisor and ag instructor, JD Cant, with Braseth noting, “I think it was cool for us because we didn’t expect to do that well.”
Turley and Counsell, who came in 3rd overall in the animal systems category, conducted a study on how time affects the viability of cattle semen, with Counsell commenting, “we thought it would be cool if we could make a difference to anyone else. It was a surprise to us because we didn’t expect that we were going to do that good.”
This encouragement towards greater involvement and the draw towards wanting to be part of something bigger isn’t unique to the chapter’s current students, rather, it has been continuously fostered over the years. Recent graduate JW Dippold, Imbler’s American FFA Degree recipient, joined during his seventh-grade year and fell into a similar pattern, stating:
“I wanted to take a shop class, and then my advisor, Mister Cant, encouraged me to become more involved with some contests. I was a little hesitant at first but then, as time went on, I tried more contests and a whole host of different things. I just slowly but surely fell more and more in love with it.”
Of those different things he mentioned, Dippold showed livestock and market goats and competed heavily in livestock judging as well as public speaking and parliamentary procedure. Dippold’s first experience at nationals was during competitions his freshman year and he eventually returned as a state officer and FFA delegate. Though Dippold is currently attending Eastern Oregon University’s agriculture entrepreneurial degree program, this year’s national convention allowed him to accompany a younger group of FFA members across the country one last time, reflecting:
“To see my home district and a lot of these members that I didn’t really know but new of, being younger than me and through my experience as a state officer, to be able to look at them and watch them grow for the past few years and find success in so many different avenues, it makes me proud and excited to see how our district can move forward.”
And of those members, nationals had an influence on them as well. Like with Joseph, the coming together of roughly 65,000 members from different states and cultures, all in the iconic blue jackets, put into perspective just how widespread the FFA is, with Paulson commenting, “I thought it was really cool that it’s not just us. Sometimes it can feel like it’s just your world, but actually, there’s so many other people there that are a part of what you’re doing.” Braseth echoed a similar sentiment, stating, “there was a lot of people, and it was cool to see everyone in their FFA Jackets, all going for the same thing you are, all competing in different things and who made it this far.”
It wasn’t just about seeing other FFA members, but also meeting them. Paulson described the excitement in getting to interact with other students, learning why they came to nationals and finding out what projects they were working on. Turley, likewise, reflected fondly on seeing so many FFA members in one place together, stating “It was really cool to see how many people are actually involved in the FFA organization. It was cool how we could all get together and have fun for a week and really experience what it’s like with everyone else.”
The descriptions given by the students almost evoke an oversized family reunion rather than a prestigious agriculture education convention, and therein lies the beauty of the FFA. Students from all walks of life and any size of chapter can simultaneously develop practical skills in agriculture and gain a unique sense of community. As best described by Dippold:
“FFA is one of the greatest things that a student can become involved in. Not only because it teaches them where their food comes from, but it teaches them so many skills beyond, like public speaking, agriculture and sales competitions to everything in between. Every student can find a home in a blue jacket, within that blue corduroy. I am a firm believer that FFA as a whole changes lives and that every kid should have the opportunity to try on a blue jacket and see if FFA is for them, which it should be. One final note of Imbler’s achievements at Nationals is that JD Cant also earned his honorary American Degree. The consensus among his students being that he more than earned it.
