Mount Vernon FFA receives Top Chapter Award

CONTACT INFORMATION

COLUMBIA, Mo., April 20, 2023 – The Missouri FFA Association awarded the Mount Vernon FFA Chapter a Gold Emblem, a Top Chapter Award. Mount Vernon placed 17th out of 355 chapters. Only 10 percent of state chapters receive a top chapter designation annually.

The National Chapter Award Program is designed to recognize FFA chapters that actively implement the mission and strategies of the organization. Chapters improve operations using the National Quality Chapter Standards and a Program of Activities that emphasize growing leaders, building communities and strengthening agriculture. Chapters are rewarded for providing educational experiences for the entire membership. The award is sponsored by FCS Financial. The Mount Vernon FFA advisors are Jay Shepherd, Steven Prewitt, and Makayla Berheim.

The Mount Vernon FFA Chapter’s growing leaders activities included Career Opportunity Day. Members were exposed to career opportunities in and around the Mount Vernon area. Participants focused on expanding their knowledge about agriculture-related career fields.

Building communities activities included Meals for Mountaineers. Members partnered with Meals of Hope, a National FFA Living to Serve Grant, and local donations. The chapter packaged ready-to-cook-meals food insecure community members. Members packaged for 26,236 meals to be delivered to local food banks.

Chapter activities in the strengthening agriculture category included Ag Literacy Event. Members interacted with third grade students to share about the agricultural industry. Participants read books about farming and facilitated hands-on learning experiences for the elementary students.

The top chapters in Missouri will compete for the National FFA Chapter Award. Winners will be announced this fall at the 96th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis.

The Missouri FFA has 26,716 members representing 356 chapters. The national organization has more than 850,000 members representing 8,995 chapters in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

The FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

#  #  #

Click upper-right “Pop-out” icon to download full-sized photo