Future Farmers of America is competing at the national convention for the first time in history after winning state, they announced at Thursday’s School Board meeting.
FFA has previously attended nationals in previous years, but they have never qualified to compete. This year, they will travel to Indianapolis and attend sessions and career fairs, meet with colleges, tour a creamery and compete in various competitions, including horse judging and floral culture.
Before they leave for Indianapolis, they will have a sendoff event where they will do a walkthrough at the high school and a drive-by of the middle school. FFA members invited members of the board and the community to join.
Science teacher and FFA adviser Abigail Snyder said she is proud of her team for reaching nationals for the first time.
“This is, really, a huge deal,” Snyder said. “Especially because so many of our members are so young. Huge, huge opportunities lie ahead in the next few weeks.”
In other business, Middle School Principals Ty Pattison and Jeremy Thomas announced 17 new before- and after-school enrichment programs to get students involved. New programs include jewelry making, babysitting training, weightlifting, golf, chess, guitar and many others.
Pattison is the head of one new program — field dressing and handling wild game and fish — and said these programs are contributing to their goal of having 100% student involvement.
“These programs are great because it lets kids get involved in things even if they don’t like sports,” Pattison said. “That’s what I like about it.”
Pattison and Thomas also announced that their new social-emotional curriculum, Character Strong, has been successful and received 100% student involvement and staff participation.
Character Strong aims to teach middle schoolers lessons about social and emotional issues — such as empathy, compassion, friendships and problem-solving — and asks teachers to give up five classes throughout the year to teach a social-emotional lesson.
Thomas said the program has been rewarding.
“It’s been a huge success,” he said. “Having both the students and teachers so involved and engaged is awesome, and helps so much in achieving our goals.”
In other business, superintendent Stu Moeckel said they achieved two out of three goals this year for the Kansas Assessment, with the district’s math scores increasing by 5% and student success increasing by 6.5%. ELA scores decreased by approximately 5%.
Moeckel said he was especially proud the district had achieved the math goal and praised the teachers.
The district’s goals for this year’s Kansas Assessment include increasing the number of students scoring threes and fours in both ELA and math by 5% and increasing the district’s post-secondary rate by 5%.
In other business, board member Heather Whalen announced a $58,000 Fresh Fruits and Vegetable grant from the Kansas Department of Education to the elementary school. The grant will give students access to fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks during the school day.
Reach reporter Jenna Barackman at [email protected]
