The Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau recently received a national County Activities of Excellence Award from the American Farm Bureau Federation for its “FFA Blue Jacket Bonanza” program.
Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau representatives will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, next January to display their award-winning program at the annual national meeting.
County Farm Bureau launched the Blue Jacket Bonanza program to help high school students earn their competition jackets. According to the Farm Bureau, the program is the first of its kind in the nation.
Students unable to purchase the jackets themselves submit applications in which they describe what earning a blue FFA jacket would mean to them. The county has raised $18,000 in the community to pay for the jackets.
“The FFA jacket gives the students a sense of pride,” Santa Maria High School FFA adviser Clemente Ayon said. “It’s kind of like their uniform, just like if they were on a sports team.”
Ayon said some of his students recently attended the national FFA convention in Indianapolis, Ind., where three of them—Patricio Orozco, Manuel Miranda, and Juan Bedolla—picked up their American FFA degrees.
“It’s the highest degree one can receive in FFA. It’s kind of like an Eagle Scout,” he said, adding that students had to complete 2,250 hours of work and 30 hours of community service, and raise $7,500 for FFA.
Being able to wear an official jacket to an event like that is very important to FFA members, Ayon said.
“We do have a lot of people who give back their jackets at the end of their time in FFA, and we do collect some without names,” he explained, but said the Blue Jacket Bonanza program rewards students for their FFA accomplishments.
Blue Jacket Bonanza is open to students in all of the county’s FFA programs. Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau employee Teri Bontrager said she is in the process of holding interviews to determine who should receive the jackets.
Managing Editor Amy Asman compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send comments or ideas to the Sun via e-mail at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 10-17, 2011.