How to ROCK your FFA Week
FFA Week is one of those weeks that you SO look forward to, but also the thought of planning an executing a week full of FFA events makes your hands sweat a little-- oh, wait that's just me!FFA Week is a great week for US to show our students, school and community what our program is ALL about.But, I understand it is hard to plan out a WEEK FULL OF ACTIVITIES, so here is a quick planning guide to help you get started and some examples from some exceptional chapters from across the nation who EXCELLED during FFA Week 2019!Step 1: Keep the National Chapter Award in MindI know not everyone submits a National Chapter, BUT it does a great job of spreading out all the different types of activities WE as chapters NEED to be doing to support or members, communities and agriculture industry the best.Make sure you hit at least ONE activity under the THREE BIG UMBRELLAS: Growing Leaders, Building Communities and Strengthening Agriculture. Go into planning knowing that this is your goal, and you are already 3 events in!Step 2: Plan EARLY and OFTENOur best events tend to be the ones we plan WAY in advance and check in with our officers/committees on a regular basis before the event. I would suggest starting the conversation about FFA week at your Chapter Officer Leadership Training in the summer BEFORE school starts. Plan out what your ideal week would look like (see step #3 for tips) and they you have a foundation to bring before the FFA chapter. If you are hosting a REALLY BIG event that needs a committee, start it way in advance like 3 months. If you are meeting every other week, that would only be 6-8 meetings. Give members PLENTY of notice on all the activities they can participate in way in advance so they can plan their schedule to COMMIT to your FFA week events.Step 3: Spread out activities in "effort" scale accordinglyDo you host a Farm Day for hundreds of little kids and feed the entire high school staff breakfast as part of FFA Week? It is probably not the best idea to have Farm Day ALL DAY and you are DOG tired, then have to wake up earlier than the crack of dawn to make pancakes for hundreds of staff members. TRY your best to spread out the activities that are "less" effort in between those that are "more" effort (aka, you need to be "on" at all times).Examples of "less" effort activities-Handing out goodie bags to members, dress up days, FFA member only social.Examples of "more" effort activities-Cooking for a group of people for an entire meal, being in front of stakeholders, hosting students from other schools, any full day event (that takes you out of your normal classes)*I know none of these are completely "easy" just categorizing them in my mind :)Step 4: Get CreativeLike step 1 said, you already have a foundation to your planning (growing leaders, building communities, strengthening agriculture), now GET CREATIVE. Let those ideas just flow out, don't let any idea be off the table (at first), then pare down your ideas to focus on one event per day.Take a look at some of these awesome ideas from FFA Chapters across the nation!Check out NATIONAL FFA's awesome resources!@jenkinscoffa Mini CDEs during Lunches@commercemsffa Awesome Photo Backdrop@southernnashffa's Farm to Lunch Bake Sale@mcgovavkfffa State Degree Surprise Ceremony@buhach_colony_ffa Goat Showmanship Obstacle Course@ncca_ffa Special Needs Livestock Show@ledfordffa Teacher Treat Trolley@pittmanffa02 Kiss a Donkey@villarica.ffa Raffles for ParticipationAnd so many more, check the hashtad #nationalffaweek for THOUSANDS of posts!