Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Prairie Grove Students Celebrate National FFA Week
Emily Traylor
There’s no such thing as waking up one day and instantly being a great leader. Leadership is built over time.
Over the years as I’ve been an FFA member, I have grown in my leadership. Am I a perfect leader? No, there is no such thing as a perfect leader. Leaders can only grow from their mistakes and experiences. This year I have had the opportunity of being the Prairie Grove FFA Chapter Secretary. As secretary, my roll is not only to “keep an accurate record of all meetings and correspond with other secretaries,” but to also display what leadership is to our younger members. When I was a freshman, I looked up to the leaders that reached out to me. I want to be that same leader, I want our younger members to hopefully pay it forward and reach out a hand to someone else, like the hand that reached out to them.
During this year’s camps, I have encouraged our youngest, newest members to attend so they can see beyond the classroom and learn what FFA is all about. I want our numbers to grow more and more each year so the Prairie Grove FFA Chapter can be known for great things.
Clayton Weyl
At the end of my sophomore year, I was granted the opportunity to be a chapter officer for my school’s FFA program. I was one of two juniors who received the privilege of being an officer a year early. This put me in the right environment to become a more well-rounded student and by extension a more responsible young man. Everything that we did as a group taught me a lesson. And to this day I am still learning new things each time our team gets together. The older officers helped me learn the importance of being on time, keeping grades high, being willing to work when help is needed, and all sorts of other small lessons.
Now I’m the senior, and I have been doing all that I can to present the value of work ethic both inside and out of the classroom to my fellow students, at least I hope so. Being an FFA officer has been one of if not the most valuable experiences for me in high school because of the countless opportunities I have been provided to better myself.
Elly Stone
One of the biggest draws to Prairie Grove’s FFA Chapter is our judging teams. Everyone tends to love being on the teams because of all the fun we have together, the trips we take, and the practical knowledge we learn. Every team is different in the matter of what they judge, but all are the same in the way we joke and laugh and learn while staying late at the school, studying IDs, or showing up way too early in the morning to head to competitions.
I am on the Nursery Landscaping Judging Team with three other girls and absolutely love it. I show up to the High School twice a week with a bag full of study notecards, plant identification material, looking forward to the mini competitions between team members on who can answer the most questions right or who can correctly identify the most plants and equipment. We work hard, but our Ag teacher, Mr. Hays, always makes sure that we enjoy our time spent practicing and preparing. The teams are a way to get closer to your peers and truly get to know them.
Whitney Walker
For me, FFA was not just another club or activity that I would be able to add to my resume at the end of my high school career. The Future Farmers of America has not only been a family legacy for me, but also a fiery passion that I wanted to pursue, even after I graduated high school.
My legacy in FFA started with my granddad being a member, and my grandmother being an FFA sweetheart. My uncles were involved, as well as extended relatives, and my dad set the ultimate bar for me during his time as an Arkansas FFA State President. The opportunities I’ve been presented with through my FFA career have shaped me into who I am today.
I especially wanted to get involved in FFA in the 8th grade so that I could have access to this amazing organization in the ways that my grandmother could not, because girls weren’t considered members when she was in high school. I wasn’t going to let this chance go by. Through the five years of Leadership Development Events, Career Development Events, conventions, camps, SAE projects, stock shows, conferences, and chapter-wide fun nights I’ve been able to attend, I have cultivated friendships with so many kids that have the same passion and understanding of a growing need for agriculture as I do. These events have developed my leadership skills, communication skills, critical thinking, and an unending list of other positive attributes that I’ll be able to take with me in May after graduation and the conclusion of my FFA career.
I am extremely sad to leave and hang up my official dress for the last time, but I am so excited for my future place in the agriculture industry and can’t thank my family and my FFA family enough for getting me to where I am today. Thank you Mr. Hale, Mr. Hays, Prairie Grove FFA and Arkansas FFA for everything over the last 5 years.
Nicholas Pohlman
In February 2018, I attended my first Meats practice with my fellow teammates Paul Cole and
Mark Dorey. Mr. Hays, our Ag teacher, came in and handed us a packet of information and told us to memorize it. Shortly after the first practice was a contest at Hot
Springs and later the University of the Ozarks. It was at these first two contests that I truly understood the hard work that the contest would take to be successful. Over the next two months, Paul, Mark, and
I attended a meats competition every weekend in Missouri. These contests gave me lots of chances to perfect my judging skills, honing in the identification aspect of the contest as well as the judging portion of the contest.
Finally the day of the FFA State Meats Evaluation contest came. We went into the contest completely prepared to do the best we could do. After we finished and after hours of uncertainty, Prairie Grove had been named the winning FFA team. I placed seventh at that contest with Mark placing fourth and Paul Cole placing second.
The day after the contest we were presented the opportunity by Mr. Hays to continue to challenge ourselves for the national contest by going to various places across the country such as Texas Tech and Texas A&M. While my two other teammates attended college now, many weekends we would hold practices where we would continue to gain new information and work on more identification.
Finally the time came to leave for the national contest in Indianapolis. We competed at the national contest where we placed seventh nationally.
My time judging meats has been an amazing experience where I got to make memories with friends and learn from Mr. Hays, as well as having the opportunity to represent Prairie Grove on the national stage.
Lexi Peoples
The Prairie Grove FFA chapter has played a very significant role in the Washington County Fair in many ways. Our chapter has been involved with keeping the trash picked up, parking, and the clean up afterwards. The county fair holds a special place in all our hearts here in Prairie Grove; it actually is home to some of my fondest memories.
It is where friends, great memories, and second families are made. Thanks to our chapter involvement in the fair, I have felt like I can call the fairgrounds my second home due to the overwhelming amount of love, support, and friends I have made there. By being in charge of the parking, our members are able to create memories that will last a lifetime. By cleaning up the fairgrounds, it provides the opportunity for some of us to get to mingle and meet some of the other members. I have to say I am extremely grateful for my chapter and the wonderful skills and memories that it is had brought me at the Washington County Fair through the years.