Brief update... There is no longer a Future Farmers of America. It is the FFA Organization and has been since 1990, when delegates voted to drop the full name in order to reflect the wider range of agricultural interests included within it (beyond actual farming).
www.ffa.org for anyone who is curious.
It, along with 4-H, is, in my experience, an excellent way for students to learn responsibility, leadership, project management and to broaden their horizons (particularly for truly rural students). In fact, many of my colleagues who hire graduating college students have commented that they can tell which ones are former FFA or 4-H members, because of their maturity, drive, people skills and responsibility. Obviously, that's not true of everyone who is a member, nor does it mean that those traits never exist in other employees, but it is something that's been observed often enough to draw attention.
Just sharing that for those who are not familiar with the organization. The membership includes many students in urban and suburban areas.
I'm hoping that we will be somewhere with an FFA Chapter by the time PG ODS is in junior high or high school. The leadership skills I gained as an FFA officer have been used ever since and I'd like for him (and his younger brother) to have a chance to join, too. I have mixed feelings about the hallowed institutions, having attended both top-tier (non-Ivy) private and land grant universities.
