SC YOUTH OBSERVING NATIONAL FFA WEEK
COLUMBIA, SC…..Agricultural Education students throughout South Carolina are celebrating National FFA Week, February 16-23, 2008, according to John W. Parris, state director of public affairs with the SC FFA Association.
“The FFA, originally known as the Future Farmers of America, is a national organization of more than 500,000 students enrolled in agricultural education courses in secondary schools, community colleges and universities,” Parris said. “There are more than 7200 organized chapters located in every state, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and the number keeps growing,” he added.
Governor Mark Sanford said in a Proclamation recognizing FFA Week in South Carolina that “the FFA Organization provides its members unique opportunities to develop leadership skills, accept responsibility, experience positive citizenship and demonstrate patriotism while achieving excellence in academics.”
A highlight of FFA Week in South Carolina will be a State Legislators Appreciation Day Ceremony at the State Capitol, Wednesday, February 20, attended by hundreds of FFA members, their advisors and other supporters. The program will include presentations by leaders in the General Assembly and the state FFA officers. A luncheon session will be keynoted by Beau Williamson, immediate past president of the National FFA Association from Clovis, California.
“When the FFA was organized in 1928, the primary agricultural career was farming but that has changed with the expanding emphasis on agricultural science, business and technology. There are more than 300 rewarding careers in agriculture today and many FFA members are preparing for many of them,” Parris said.
American agriculture employs approximately twenty percent of the nation’s work force and is the envy of people around the world because of its ability to produce more than 16 percent of the global food supply. Americans enjoy the highest quality and safest food at the lowest cost of any nation on earth.
The State FFA Officer team consists of President Spencer McLeod of McBee; Secretary Hunter Cooper of Calhoun Falls; and Vice Presidents William Nelson of Clinton; Heather Coleman of Dillon; Desiree Kinneer of Indian Land; and Brittany Mixson of Cope.
The mission of the FFA is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agriculture education.