2024 State Degrees
|
- State Degrees must be entered in this Google Form by February 9, 2024.
- Judging will take place on February 10, 2024 at 10:00 AM in Brehm Animal Science at UT, Knoxville.
- You will need to bring a hard copy of the application to be judged
- If you bring applications, please plan on helping review applications. We usually have 150+ applications, so the more people we have the quicker we are all done.
- Login to ffa.org and find state degree applications under the "Application Manager" tab. Students must initiate the Degree process from their ffa.org account. If your student does not know/have an ffa.org account, you can find that in the "Manage Roster" section of your advisor account.
- Students can use virtual and invitational events as bonafide events for the purpose of the State Degree Application. This would include any event in which they represent your FFA Chapter and that is attended by more than one FFA Chapter. Remember that you cannot use the same event more than once to satisfy the "FFA Activities" page.
- Physical signatures will not be required. When the application is submitted, that will serve as verification that the Advisor attests to the validity of the Application.
To receive a State FFA Degree, members must meet the following requirements:
- Received a Chapter FFA Degree.
- Have been an active FFA member for at least two years (24 months) at the time of receiving the State FFA Degree
- The above means that a student must be in his/her third year of FFA membership, at minimum, to earn the degree.
- Have completed at least 2 years (360 hours) of systematic school instruction in agricultural education at our above the ninth grade level, which includes an SAE.
- The above could potentially be confusing. If a student joined FFA and took an ag class as a junior in high school, that would be 180 hours of instruction and one year of FFA membership. If during the students senior year, he/she took two ag classes and joined FFA, he/she would NOT meet the requirement. The key words in the above statement are “have completed” – in the scenario I give, the student would only have completed 360 hours.
- Now, according to how this reads, a student could potentially take an ag class and join FFA his/her junior year, then take another ag class and join FFA during his/her senior year, and then pay his/her FFA dues during the first year out of high school to meet the “have been an active member for at least two years” requirement and still earn the State FFA Degree..just one year out of high school. A word of caution, though – in this case, the student would not be able to earn the American FFA Degree b/c that requires at least three years (540 hours) of systematic instruction.
- Have earned and productively invested at least $1,000, or have worked at least 300 hours outside of schedule class time through an SAE.
- Financial information must be documented on the State FFA Degree application and then say “MET” on the “Checklist of Minimum Qualifications” – TN Page 13 is the title of the tab on the state degree application excel sheet. If the word “ERROR” has been marked out and the word “MET” has been written in, those judging should scrutinize this and question the validity, as the formulas in the excel file are created to instantly change to “MET” once the requirement is met. Decisions on this should be made at the regional judging site after careful consideration.
- Demonstrated leadership ability by performing 10 parliamentary law procedures, giving a six-minute speech on a topic relating to agriculture or FFA, and serving as an FFA officer, committee chairperson, or committee member.
- Pay close attention to the final line “serving as an FFA officer, committee chairperson, or committee member” – this piece of information MUST be documented on TN Page 12 (the title of the tab on the state degree application excel sheet)….then, to the right, if it were a chapter office or membership in a chapter committee, place type in the specific year/years the candidate held that office or position on the committee. If this information is not found on the application, then those judging the applications can only assume that the student has never held a leadership position in FFA and must, thus, disqualify the student.
- Have a satisfactory academic record, certified by the agriculture teacher and the school principal or superintendent.
- Signature of a school official must be present in order to meet this requirement. If left blank, the requirement is not met.
- Participated in the planning and implementation of the chapter’s Program of Activities.
- Participated in at least five different FFA activities above the chapter level.
- This may cause some confusion, so I will provide some more examples. Livestock Judging is ONE activity. If a student competes in Livestock Judging at the regional, state and national level…it is still ONE activity…yes, the one activity occurred numerous times at numerous locations, but it is ONE activity. If the student competes in Livestock Judging for three years in a row at the regional and state level..it is still ONE activity. The key phrase above is “different FFA activities” and “above the chapter level”. Again, the years of participation at each level must be indicated, but one CDE is ONE activity. State Convention attended three times in ONE activity. FFA Camp attended twice is ONE activity. TLC attended three times is ONE activity. Entering a vegetable crop at the State Fair FFA judging competition is ONE activity. If, however, a student competed in livestock judging, attended state convention, attended FFA camp, attended TLC, and entered a vegetable crop at the State Fair FFA judging competition, that would be FIVE separate activities. There may be unusual circumstances/situations that arise on the applications and I certainly can’t think of them all… decisions on these types of situations should be made at the regional judging site after careful consideration.
- Complete at least 25 hours of community service in a minimum of two different activities. All community service hours are cumulative, i.e. the 10 community service hours used to obtain the chapter degree can be used toward the state degree.
- I hope we are coming to a consensus regarding community service, but I wanted to provide information as it is written on the National FFA website regarding community service hours for the American Degree. We will adhere to these same standards for the State FFA Degree so that we are setting our students up for success later when they apply for the American FFA Degree.
- What types of activities count as "Community Service?" Defining Community Service:
Community service engages students in the educational process, allowing them to use practices they learn in the classroom to make a difference in real life. Students not only learn about democracy and citizenship, they become actively contributing citizens and community members through the service they perform.
- Use this definition as a guide to determine if a given activity meets the community service requirements. An activity must meet all of the following criteria in order to be approved as community service:
- The activity has tangible community involvement.
- Students have an opportunity to gain skills and competencies or apply skills and competencies learned in the classroom setting.
- The activity has a demonstrated positive impact on the community, or individuals who live and work in the community.
- The student gives of his/her time, energy or knowledge through activities focused on helping others, improving community resources or improving community infrastructure.
- The community service activity can be organized by the FFA chapter; however, it must be performed outside of classroom time.
- Activities listed as community service cannot be duplicated in the FFA activities section of the application. Student may only list the activity in one section of the application.
- When using this definition, consider this example:
- Participating on a school athletic team is a school related activity, but it is not community service. Volunteering as a Little League, Pop Warner Football or soccer team coach would be acceptable.
- The American Degree application states a community service must be a non-FFA activity. Keep in mind it can be organized by the FFA chapter, but must be conducted outside of classroom hours.
Requirement:
Chapter Degree: 10 community service hours
State Degree: 25 community service hours
(a minimum of 2 different activities)
American Degree: 50 community service hours
(a minimum of 3 different activities)
These hours can be cumulative. State Degree needs 15 more community service hours than the chapter degree and the American degree needs 25 more community service hours.??
CORRECT FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:
- “Canned Food Drive” provides a description of the volunteer/community service work performed
- “Worked Registration Desk At Clinic…”provides a description of the volunteer/community service work performed and was completed independent of an athletic team
- “Weekly After School Campus Cleanup Project” was volunteer/community service performed outside of class and provides a description of the work performed
- “Muck Stalls at Helping Hands Horse Stable” provides a description of the volunteer/community service work performed
|
|