Warwick Valley’s National FFA Organization (FFA) group has remained very active this year, despite having to operate almost fully online due to the circumstances of the pandemic. Warwick High School’s FFA team placed first in Parliamentary Procedure at the 2021 Eastern Sub-State Leadership Development Event. This following the second-place finish at the district level.
Thomas Kanz also placed first in Extemporaneous Public Speaking. The proud winning team members are Chairperson Aiden Hamilton, Co-President Sean Parkinson, Lizbeth Varela Cordero, Thomas Kanz, Chapter Vice President John Ruszkiewicz, and Allison King. The team is now moving on to compete in the virtual New York State FFA Convention.
Warwick Valley High School has been a longtime participant in the programs and competitions of the National FFA Organization, a group still most familiar to many by its original name, Future Farmers of America. Today, FFA still has a strong core focus on agricultural education, but the organization is well known for its programs designed to prepare youths for success in leadership, as well as personal and career growth.
“FFA offers a lot of different awards and activities, but much of the focus is on leadership,” explained teacher and FFA advisor Nancy Colgan. “These competitions are part of what’s called their Leadership Development Events (LDE).”
The WVHS FFA continues to do great in-school work as well, including their Safety Backpack drive for area migrant workers, their recent release of pollinators into the ecosystem, their trout study, and their ongoing greenhouse, which yields beautiful specimens every year for their Mother’s Day Plant Sale.
Members of the Warwick H.S. FFA team include (from left): Advisor Nancy Colgan, John Ruszkiewicz, Sean Parkinson, & Lizbeth Varela Cordero.
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