The Crookston High School FFA Chapter has made great strides in just its first full year of existence at CHS. Not only is the Chapter going to the State Competition later this month, but it has also been recognized as a Superior Chapter in the State and is advancing to the Nationals competition in Indianapolis, Indiana, after receiving a Gold Ranking for the National Chapter Award!
The Chapter has qualified to participate in the State FFA Convention that will be taking place at the Mariucci Arena at the University of Minnesota from April 24-26, with five teams and 26 students being chosen to represent Crookston High School and the entire FFA Region I. Along with competing in the State competition, the Chapter will also be recognized for many of the accomplishments they have achieved throughout the year. “We’re getting recognized for being a new Chartering Chapter, which involved a lot of applications last year. We’re also being recognized for ranking Superior and Gold on our National Chapter Application. We got them both from Region I and the State of Minnesota.” Ag Ed Teacher and FFA Advisor Whitney Rupprecht explained. “I am also being recognized for being the Region I Adult Board Representative on the State Board, so I attend numerous meetings that plan and make new rules and vote on new things such as budgeting for the State.” The Chapter is also being recognized as a Model of Innovation at the State Convention, making them one of only three chapters in the entire State to receive this honor this year. The Chapter is being recognized for its role in strengthening agriculture in the State for all of their work throughout the school. “The Model of Innovation is something I didn’t expect that we would get. The FFA look at the National Chapter Awards, and they decide who has some really constructive ideas, and we were one of them that were listed.” Rupprecht explained. “It really is just all of our displays that we’ve been hanging up around the school. We’ve been promoting agriculture within the school itself and making the students aware of what agriculture is. So, we plan to continue that, and we have students that are able to push everything forward and continue to be great.” Three students in the Chapter have received semi-rankings on their Proficiency applications, with Joslyn Wallace placing among the top section and ranking Gold in the State Application with Libby Salentine, and Clay Hanson placing among the top three projects in the State, with a chance for them to go to the National competition if they can win the first-place spot.
The Chapter also applied and received a Gold Ranking and a Superior Rating for the National Chapter Award, which earned a ranking among the top of the State and a trip to the National competition in October. “The National Chapter Award is a lengthy application, consisting of about 27 pages. The first couple of pages was us giving information about the Chapter and things that we have done throughout the year. If we scored high enough on that, we were able to rank Superior and advance on in the process.” Rupprecht explained. “We did score high enough, and we advanced to the second part, which was filling out all of our applications, in-depth, of goals, proposals, and plans of action. Then we had to justify whether we’ve exceeded, met, or did not meet them, including pictures and captions of our actions.” With the application completed, it then goes to the State FFA Committee, who ranks the application on their accomplishments which was ranked among the top of the State and will now be advanced to Nationals for judging and being compared against other top States FFA Chapters across the nation.
Advisor and Ag Ed Teacher Whitney Rupprecht and the Chapter students are amazed and proud of themselves for their achievements of making it to such a high level of competition in such a short time since its creation last year. Many students expressed their disbelief in going to a big competition like State’s so quickly and having a shot at going to the National competition. “I’m pretty proud of our Chapter. Honestly, my first competition was in Ulen, which was the last regular competition we did, and now going to States for one of your first competitions is insane because you feel like you’re guessing on half the stuff. Especially if you didn’t study.” Sophomore Small Animals Team member Hope Alexander explained. Others embraced their experiences and voiced their excitement to go to new areas and meet fellow FFA members across the State and make new friends. “I’m really proud of our Chapter, and with this only being our second year, this is huge. And as Hope said, this doesn’t happen a lot with new teams.” Junior Small Animals Team member Alexis Reinhart explained, “The moment this really hit me on how far we made it is when I met some other friends at FFA, and they said, “You guys are killing it and doing great for just your second year,” so it really was amazing.”
Others noted how FFA’s rapid development had changed their High School experience with their experiences and opportunities. “I am really proud of our Chapter because when Ms. Rupprecht first started here, I didn’t know anything about FFA; I honestly hadn’t heard of it before. Junior Small Animals Team member Emily Shea explained, “Honestly, we didn’t do a lot before she came to this school, but when I did Small Animals, it was just crazy to hear that we made it to State, so I’m very proud of this chapter for growing this fast.” The students also expressed their gratitude to Ms. Rupprecht for all her support and motivation she has given the Chapter over the time it’s taken them to grow and claimed she was one of the main reasons they have made it as far as they have. “I got to see this Chapter last year when it was COVID season, and everything was on Zoom. And somehow, Horse Judging also made it to States then too, so it’s weird to see a newborn chapter can make it to States, and I have to give credit where credit is due to Ms. Rupprecht, who has helped us out in practices, and I think if we had a different Ag Teacher or a person who has never done FFA, I think it would be a different story.” Junior Horse Judging Team Member Brianna Colborn explained, “It’s definitely having Ms. Rupprecht here that has gotten us to grow this big, and if it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have made it this far.” Whitney Rupprecht was extremely proud of the Chapter for all of their hard work and was thankful to them and to the school and community for all their support. “I’m so proud of everyone, we have phenomenal students here at CHS, and that’s been showing. They’ve been working very hard and been getting things done. With 26 students that have qualified and our attending the State Convention, which is amazing.” Whitney Rupprecht explained, “We’re able to do a lot, and I thank our community, our principal and vice-principal, and our administrators. They’re phenomenal when it comes to support for the Ag Program, and when I look at our students, they’re the whole reason we’re here, and they’ve been a huge reason that I’ve been able to push and keep going.”
The Crookston FFA will head to the State Convention from April 24-26 at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities. The Chapter will celebrate the end of its year with a Chapter Banquet at the Crookston High School in May. If any more of the Chapter’s members or teams are able to make it to the National FFA Competition, they will head down to Indianapolis, Indiana, in October to compete.
