Future Farmers of America is a new organization in the school building, bringing new ideas to the community. With this starting, the FFA leader is thrilled to begin. Laura Miller, a teacher of several different classes, took up the new challenge of leading the students of JCHS into farming and agriculture.

“FFA is a national organization for students who are interested in agriculture, science, production AG, research, anything and everything,” Miller stated. “One of our missions is to grow students personally in their community and also as a group, so there’s a lot of collaboration and brotherhood and cooperation with FFA and so we do competitions based on skills learned in classrooms.”

The club plans to give back to the community through agriculture-based community service and service learning projects.

How long has the FFA been around in Junction City high school?
Miller: Right now we’re on year zero, so this is our first official year, so I like to say we’re on year zero because even though this is our first year, we’re still just kind of learning who we are as a chapter, what is going to be our traditions, and just kind of establishing ourselves and our school and community.

What have you done to improve the FFA?
Miller: We really recruited within the AG classes and then the AFNR pathway advisories and really we also put out announcements, [like] with discovery days with the freshman. We say, ‘Hey, do you like competition, do you like food, do you like traveling, do you like community service? Hey, we’ve got a group for you.’ And so we really try to promote that. We’re very inclusive so in FFA you don’t have to be a farmer to join. You don’t necessarily even have to go and be interested in agriculture, but if you really enjoy the community service, competition, scholarships, meeting people, then we really are a group that caters to that.

Why is agriculture important?
Miller: One, personally, I grew up on a farm so I’ve always known where my food comes from. I appreciate and respect those who spend the time to raise it for our population and for our world. I think agriculture is important and people need to understand and appreciate agriculture because if you’re going to eat food or wear clothes, you’re apart of the agriculture industry. So, you don’t have to be a farmer to respect the farmer, to respect the producer, and understand where those foods and products come from.

The Future Farmers of America meetings occur in room 243. For more information, contact Laura Miller.