STEPHEN, Minn. — After a decades-long hiatus, Stephen-Argyle Central High School students proudly are wearing the iconic blue corduroy jacket with the yellow FFA emblem.
Maddie Stewart, a first-year teacher at the school for grades seven through 12, re-introduced agricultural education, and with it, FFA, to students in the fall of 2021.
“I wanted to make sure that youth connected with agriculture in their everyday lives,” Stewart said. “It’s amazing how many individuals don’t know how agriculture impacts them.”
She grew up helping her grandparents on their CarlSons Angus ranch near Thief River Falls, Minnesota, took agricultural education classes at Thief River Falls High School and was a member of the high school’s FFA chapter. After graduation from high school in 2018, Stewart attended Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls for a year, then transferred to the University of Minnesota Crookston, where she majored in agricultural education.
Before Stewart graduated from UMC in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education, she contacted Stephen-Argyle High School about teaching agricultural education in the northwest Minnesota school district, which hadn’t had a program in many years.
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The district hired Stewart, and in the fall of 2021, she began teaching introduction to agriculture, agricultural economics, agricultural leadership, plant and soil sciences and animal science classes. She also is Stephen-Argyle Central High School FFA advisor.
Ninety SAC students are enrolled in the agricultural education classes, which automatically enrolls them in FFA through program affiliation.
The National FFA Organization’s program affiliation allows students in grades seven through 12 who are enrolled in an agricultural education program to be eligible for benefits and opportunities of FFA as a part of the local program.
The Stephen-Argyle Central High School FFA chapter has 90 students and is the northernmost program in Minnesota, Stewart said.
There are more than 735,000 FFA members in more than 8,800 FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the National FFA Organization.
Emma Evans, a Stephen-Argyle Central High School junior, enrolled in agricultural economics so she could broaden her understanding of the industry, Evans said.
“Many of the things in agriculture connect to what we will be doing in the future,” Evans said. Meanwhile, FFA career development events and serving as vice president of the SAC chapter have taught her skills, including leadership and how to work together with other members of her career development teams to achieve goals
“The leadership part is huge,” Stewart said. Leadership, along with personal growth, is something from which all FFA members can benefit, she said.
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Meanwhile, though FFA is rooted in agriculture — it was founded in 1928 by young farmers to promote food production — it now welcomes members who want to pursue other careers. The name of the organization was changed in 1988 from an acronym which stood for Future Farmers of America, to simply FFA.
“There is something for every student in FFA,” Stewart said. For example, students who aren't interested in crop science career development events can do public speaking, she said.
Stewart emphasizes to students that it's important to put effort into preparing for career development events, requiring them to spend a half dozen lunch periods in her room preparing for them.
Stewart purchased two classroom sets of FFA jackets for the students, and, though they represent the fashion of the 1920s not the 2020s, students were honored to show their affiliation with FFA.
“They were super-excited to wear them,” Stewart said.
