ADM’s annual FFA week, which celebrates our Future Farmers of America here at ADM, was just a few weeks ago. The members of FFA and their leadership team help put on fun activities around the school to celebrate the organization. This year, FFA Week was February 17-21, kicking off with lots of fun activities. 

Some of the activities that were put on this year were a pie-eating contest, counting kernels, and finding the piggies. The FFA members also made breakfast for the teachers one morning, which helped bring awareness to FFA and help our teachers. They also host a truck show, but this was postponed due to the extreme temperatures. 

“The thing I was most excited about was staff breakfast because it’s my favorite thing, and it always has been,” Payton Taylor said. “I always love giving back to our staff, and doing that through FFA is so important to me.” 

Taylor is the Vice President of ADM’s FFA chapter. The staff breakfast is a very important part of the tradition and is a favorite among the members. There is a lot of work and planning that goes into it, but it is a hit with both the teachers and students. 

“We get to school really early, and then we start cooking. I’ve made pancakes all four years, so I’m kind of the pancake queen,” said Taylor. “We make pancakes, cheesy eggs, regular eggs, sausages, and then we have drinks. That’s definitely my favorite.”

These activities and traditions are chosen to help bring awareness to everything that the FFA members and everyone in the agriculture field do. 

“We start planning FFA Week a few weeks in advance, and we want to make sure we include activities that can reach the entire student body as well as really help cultivate and capture everything that FFA stands for,” said Taylor. “Doing things like hiding the pigs and counting the kernels, simple things like that, but also making sure we do a staff breakfast because everything you eat comes from agriculture to show how much we appreciate them.”

FFA Week is a perfect opportunity to highlight the Future Farmers of America, both here at ADM and on the national level. Farmers and people working in agriculture have a huge impact that often goes unnoticed. National FFA Week is just one small way we can show our appreciation for them.

“It really helps showcase who we are. It lets us show off our talents and why advocating for agriculture is so important. Having an entire week dedicated to us allows us to show the community and our school what FFA is really about,” said Taylor.