Orting High School's (OHS) new Future Farmers of America (FFA) Club visited our k through 6 classrooms to teach students agriculture for their state competition.

At the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, first-year OHS Agriculture Teacher Mia Gum launched a Washington FFA Chapter at the high school, where she also serves as the program's advisor. According to its website, FFA prepares its members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. 

"Orting has a lot of plant and soil science," Gum said. "I also want to add animal science because we need it. FFA is the sport from agriculture, so I'm getting the students all excited about it, and we are starting to compete." 

The OHS FFA Program entered the Washington FFA Association (WAFFA) F.A.R.M. for Kids Competition, a statewide event judging chapters on their agricultural education presentation for elementary-level students. Local chapter members visited Orting Primary, Ptarmigan Ridge Elementary, and Orting Middle School classrooms, teaching students about the significance of agriculture. Along with the learning materials they created for the students, they will submit their presentation video clips and pictures to WAFFA for the competition.

OHS Freshman and local FFA Chapter Member Emma McKernan says even though Mrs. Gum established the program a few months ago, she and the other members feel confident. 

"It's really exciting," McKernan said."I'm really looking forward to representing our high school with my fellow FFA members."

OHS Junior and local FFA Chapter Member Ethan Bright says he's happy to see agriculture finally getting recognition in the Orting community. 

"Before this school year, it (agriculture) wasn't really spoken about," Bright said. "Our town has a lot of opportunities to do cool things with agriculture."

Even though the members are FFA rookies, they have already received statewide recognition. At the 2021 WAFFA DII Conference in December, they were awarded:

• 2021-22 WAFFA DII Program of the Year
• 2021-22 WAFFA DII Outstanding Cooperation Award (Fir Run Nursery)

WAFFA plans to host the 2022 F.A.R.M. For Kids Competition at Washington State University in Pullman in May, where Mrs. Gum and the chapter students hope to see more success.

Interested in following the OHS FFA Chapter on Facebook? Click here.