Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. The week-long tradition began in 1947 when the National FFA Board of Directors designated the week of George Washington’s birthday as National FFA Week in recognition of his legacy as an agriculturist and farmer. The first National FFA Week was held in 1948. Today, FFA Week always runs Saturday to Saturday and encompasses Feb. 22, Washington’s birthday.
This year National FFA week will be held February 21-28 and the theme is Go All Out. FFA asks its members to Go All Out as they live their lives. All agriculture students need to have courage and conviction in making choices that will lead to success for themselves, their schools and their communities. Members need to motivate themselves and put everything they have into everything they do. They need to be determined, know no bounds and take action.
National FFA Week is an opportunity for FFA members, alumni and sponsors to advocate for agricultural education and FFA. It’s a time to share with local, state and national audiences what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day.
Today’s FFA members are the innovators and leaders of tomorrow. Through agricultural and hands-on learning, they are preparing for more than 300 career opportunities in the food, fiber and natural resources industry.
The activities planned by the Dell Rapids FFA Chapter will consist of a scavenger hunt for various FFA symbols in the high school and a trivia question related to the FFA on Monday. The activities for Tuesday will be drive a tractor to school and a new FFA trivia question. The FFA chapter will provide muffins for the high school staff members as a sign of appreciation for all they do to support the program, a dirty vehicle contest and another FFA trivia question on Wednesday. On Thursday, a short activity will be conducted during a pep rally along with another FFA trivia question. To finish out the week, agriculture Olympic games will be set up in the shop for agriculture students to compete in and a final FFA trivia question.
**Submitted by Tom Wolff