Staff Report
The Barrington Middle School Future Farmers of America (FFA) Chapter has big plans this fall. In October, a team of seven students will represent the school, Hillsborough County and Florida at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.
This past summer, the Barrington FFA ‘Conduct of Chapter Meetings’ team won the Florida state competition in Orlando, besting other chapters within Florida, the majority of which were high school students. The FFA Conduct of Chapter Meetings Leadership Development Event is designed to stimulate young FFA members’ knowledge and understanding of traditions and ceremonies, parliamentary procedure and leadership skills. In this event, teams of students from grades six, seven, eight and nine take a preliminary written test in the spring, and then the top qualifiers advance to the state level to perform a mock meeting, complete with opening ceremonies, parliamentary procedure, debate, motions and closing ceremonies. The state contest is held every year at state convention.
The 2017 Florida FFA Association State Conduct of Meetings LDE champion team members include David Ferrell, Logan Goodyear, Will Haxton, Carter Howell, Erin McAneny, Brynne Murphy and Aidan Routh, supported by advisors Brittany Coleman and Greg Lehman and the Barrington Middle School FFA Alumni. They will be the first middle school to represent Florida nationally in this event and the first from this very successful chapter.
The Barrington FFA Chapter was also recently recognized as one of the top ten chapters in America for Strengthening Agriculture. During the national convention in October, the students will give a presentation on the chapter’s “U-Pick” strawberry program, competing to be named the top chapter in America.
The Barrington Middle School FFA Chapter consistently brings home the hardware, representing the local area and winning event after event. The Florida FFA Organization sponsors 25 Career Development Events (CDEs) each year. For Academic Year 2016-2017, the Barrington Middle School FFA Chapter placed 1st in the state in six of these events and 2nd or 3rd place in four others.
For more information on FFA, visit www.ffa.org.
