FFA Behind to Emblem: St. Charles

65 members
St. Charles, Minnesota
Winona County

Tell us about your chapter. The St. Charles FFA chapter has 63 FFA members in grades 7-12 and proudly represents Region 8 FFA in southeast Minnesota. Our students participate in a robust variety of service projects, chapter activities, leadership conferences and competitive events known as Career Development Events or Leadership Development Events throughout the year. The students are involved in various levels of participation at the chapter, regional, state and national levels.

How does your chapter volunteer in the community throughout the year? We have a feed the farmer, hunger challenge, appreciation breakfast and ag day each year. These events help show appreciation for those in the ag industry and supporters of the chapter. We lead a high school challenge to collect food for the local food shelf. We put on a plant sale each spring in conjunction with our ag day to showcase agriculture to elementary students. Last year, the students secured a National FFA “Living to Serve” grant to build picnic tables for the pool area shelter. In conjunction with the middle school class, three new picnic tables were built.

What fundraisers does your chapter do throughout the year? Which is the most successful? We have a fruit, meat, cheese and butter braid fundraiser in the fall that is the most successful. We work with our local grocery store, Miller’s Market, and Little Red Dairy in Theilman to source our products. We also operate a vending machine in our high school and have a plant sale each spring.

What are the biggest events of the year? National FFA Week is always a big event for us, with activities during the school day and the annual appreciation pancake breakfast for parents, supporters and staff. We will be trying out a few new things this year, including a school-wide bingo and carnival. Our plant sale and FFA banquet are also unique events for us to showcase the students’ work throughout the year.

What is unique about your chapter? The diversity of opportunities. Our chapter includes leaders who likely never thought FFA was for them when they were in seventh and eighth grades, but they became chapter officers. Some of our members come from traditional farm families, but many do not. Students have found leadership development and career opportunities as a valuable part of their FFA careers regardless of their backgrounds or future interests. It is important to be robust and evolving to meet the needs and interests of individual students. No two years have been the same, and no two students’ FFA journeys are the same.

When was your chapter founded and how has it evolved? This year, we will celebrate 86 years of St. Charles FFA, which has rich traditions but is always uniquely fitted to the interests of the students. The chapter started Feb. 24, 1939. We have things that have become a tradition for us, but we are also not afraid to change things up and try new things, including adding a summer ag tour to engage students with the ag industry in the tri-state region or investigating new service projects, such as building picnic tables or making decorations for the elderly. We have been able to expand opportunities to middle school students and include them in much of the programming.