WOODBURY — Nonnewaug provides a variety of opportunities for students to develop skills that will further benefit their lives. The agriscience department is helping to broaden these opportunities by providing all students with an ag committee that focuses on a blend of student interests and the needs of the program collectively.

Many students aren’t familiar with committees because they weren’t prominent in previous years. There are currently five different committees from which agriscience students are able to choose. 

• The Student Activities Committee which helps come up with, plan, and organize ag events such as ag field day and other fun activities.
• The Scrapbook Committee which takes photos and logs every event the chapter does so students can recall and learn from past experiences and preserve chapter history. This can then be entered into the state scrapbook contest.
• The Memory Book Committee creates a yearbook for the ag department. This group helps create and design the layout, its content, and observe the entire process while adding photos.
• The Program Outreach Committee gives students a chance to get community service hours while also providing information about our ag department to the local community.
• The Building Enhancement Committee is for students who want a more hands-on experience. This committee focuses on hands-on projects and repairs around ag facilities, like fence repairs or other equipment.

Out of the five committees, so far only two are currently up and running after school: the Student Activities and Scrapbook committees.

The reason that Woodbury FFA has committees is to promote involvement for the chapter. Officers usually run and plan everything, so to release some pressure off the officers and get the rest of the students involved, they were implemented to encourage participation. 

“They benefit the ag program by each committee filling the small gaps to help keep us functioning,” said Kathleen Gorman, NHS agriscience teacher. “The committees help students become leaders and develop these skills in the committee that best fits their needs.” 

Ag committees provide opportunities for students to better enhance their leadership skills and other soft skills that prepare students for life beyond the program while also benefiting the chapter at large.

“The Student Activities Committee takes charge of planning and running social events,” said Ryan Wicklund, a senior. “The committee last year planned the ag field day and Extreme Play trip; this year we already [planned] a chapter Friendsgiving [Nov. 18] and plenty more events in the works.”

Another key reason in the thought process for making these committees a required component is for the State FFA Degree. The State FFA Degree is the next step up in the FFA from the Chapter Degree. To get the State FFA Degree, a student must be part of a committee to make it easier for other students. Students who are going for their State FFA Degree need to be on a committee and make mandatory attendance requirements.

“The Student Activities Committee runs Mondays after school from 2:30-3:30 in [Tom] DiMarco’s room, [so] if any ag students are interested, come on down,” said Wicklund.

The other four committees will throughout the week after school; the Scrapbook Committee meets Wednesdays.

Scrapbook has the responsibility to preserve the history of our chapter throughout the year, and during the state convention, it is entered in a contest between all the other chapters in the state.

“Being able to preserve our chapters’ history,” said Juliann Noyd, Woodbury FFA Chapter secretary, “and being able to show what we have done and learned through the year [is important].”

Another one of the four committees is Ag Publicity, whose purpose is to raise awareness of our program and to do community outreach. Some of the things they have done include a fundraiser to help local police K9s receive a new vest.

“These committees teach planning skills for events, organizational skills, public speaking, and more” said Madelynn Orosz, Woodbury FFA Chapter reporter. “They are a great way to prepare members for the real world and daily life activities.”

This story was originally published in November; it was updated April 28.