{"id":26320,"date":"2025-12-30T10:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T16:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=26320"},"modified":"2025-12-30T10:47:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T16:47:50","slug":"ffa-chapters-sign-official-program-charters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/uncategorized\/26320-ffa-chapters-sign-official-program-charters\/","title":{"rendered":"FFA Chapters Sign Official Program Charters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<p>(PHOTO COURTESY OF EFFINGHAM FFA)<\/p>\n<p><strong>By HANNAH SPANGLER FarmWeek<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Two Illinois high schools signed official FFA charters this month, as Effingham formally re-chartered its program and Jacksonville Routt Catholic launched an FFA chapter for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<p>This adds to the more than 42,000 members and 402 chapters in the Illinois Association FFA. As agricultural education programs expand, the National FFA Organization, now topping 1 million members, reflects growing interest among Illinois students.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>The Effingham agriculture program was started by Ty Totten ahead of the 2024-25 school year, with about 50 students interested in taking a class. This year, enrollment expanded to more than 80 students, all of whom automatically become members of the FFA chapter.<\/p>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>As the teacher and adviser, Totten said his goal is to keep expanding the program and eventually add a greenhouse or livestock barn, as well as have a student earn an American FFA Degree \u2014 the highest honor a member can receive in the organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Totten taught at the high school for more than 10 years before reviving the FFA program the school hadn\u2019t had since the mid-1980s. He used to teach a \u201cproject-based\u201d manufacturing class where students would build fire pits for customers. But once that class was up and running smoothly, he was ready to try a new challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cI was wanting something new, something that I could get going,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Totten has a horse ranch and a cattle operation and was raised with an agriculture background. Also, his wife, Mandy, is an agriculture teacher and FFA adviser for St. Elmo Middle and High School in Fayette County, so it made sense for an agriculture program to be his next step.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cWe have a large ag community, and the schools around us have ag, but Effingham didn\u2019t,\u201d he told FarmWeek. \u201cThere was a need.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> (PHOTO COURTESY OF EFFINGHAM FFA) By HANNAH SPANGLER FarmWeek Two Illinois high schools signed official FFA charters this month, as Effingham formally re-chartered its program and Jacksonville Routt Catholic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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