Celebrating National FFA week

The Thermopolis Big Springs FFA chapter was chartered last year at the Thermopolis Middle School with 45 members.

Advisor Becky Martinez said regarding some of their goals, "We want to be one of the top five chapters in the state. This will be announced in April at the State FFA Convention. We would like to continue increasing the number of students that qualify to go to the National FFA Convention with their agriscience fair research project. We had six members in October 2022 and we aim to have seven or more going this October. We want to strive to serve within our community. We've created Homegrown Heroes to encourage students and community members to give back and help out the wonderful community we live in."

Martinez has been an FFA Advisor in Thermopolis for five years and said, "I believe our chapter is growing. We have more active members this year than we did last year. Our members participate in many local events and activities to support the community. We also compete at the state level against other middle school members and chapters. Our chapter had six members compete at the national level last fall in agriscience and this spring we had 15 members compete at the state level for agriscience. Students have seen the success of our members and have set goals for themselves to reach that level of success too."

Some of the Big Springs FFA Chapter highlights from the spring 2022 State Convention competitions are 2nd place horse judging, 14th place livestock judging, 5th place poultry judging and 4th place meats judging.

Six members competed at the national level with their agriscience research projects. Alec Martinez and Hayden Johnson were 2nd, Gage Pittsley and Cruz Mascorro were 5th, and Jayssie and Chloee Owsley were 7th.

Martinez added, "Our chapter received two grants last fall to help with different service projects. We received the FFA Yearlong Living to Serve Grant from National FFA and the Working Here Funds grant from Farm Credit Services. We have used these grant funds for many things this school year including making pens to give to veterans to thank them for their service to our country. We handed these out at the local Veteran's Day assembly and mailed others to recent graduates that joined the service."

Regarding the types of community service projects Big Springs have been involved in, Martinez said, "This year we put a big emphasis on giving back to our community. In the spring we host an Ag Expo and invite elementary students to learn about the agriculture in our county. We helped with our fairgrounds maintenance by painting garbage cans before the county fair and helping set up the show rings. Members served dinner at a cookie jar auction to raise funds to cover medical expenses for a middle school teacher. "

During the summer, a group of members gathered at a local church to clean pine needles from under their trees.

Additional community service projects include members making 38 pens in wood shop and giving them to veterans, donating two Thanksgiving baskets to families in our community and hosting a food drive and donated all the food to the Episcopal church to use in the Christmas Basket program.

"We were busy FFA elves during the month of December and helped with the Salvation Army bell ringing, served dinner for a business Christmas party, wrapped gifts at Thermopolis Hardware, adopted two children from the local elf tree, and donated gingerbread houses to local families. Our members really enjoyed helping out during the holiday season," added Martinez.