WOODBURY — The application due date for incoming FFA students is coming up fast. Eighth-graders looking to attend Nonnewaug High School’s agriscience program are occupied by their ag program applications. While prospective students have until Dec. 1 to apply, many students have already sent in their applications.

The incoming agriscience freshmen are filling out their applications in hopes to secure one of the 75 seats available to them. Some of these applicants will be in-district applicants from the towns of Woodbury and Bethlehem, while others will come from other districts. 

Open house was held Oct. 17, when eighth-graders and parents view the program as well as current students in action, demonstrating their learning.  This opportunity helps to give students a better look at what they would be doing in the program and can help them in writing their essays, which is a large part of their application process.

Agriscience program director Lee McMillan is preparing for applications to start rolling in, reading around 100 applications from potential students. 

“They have to write an essay of why they want to be here,” said McMillan. “The essay is what we are really looking at. It helps us to find the right students for the program.”

McMillan makes sure to read through the essays carefully to make sure that students selected will be a good fit for the program. 

“I’ve started thinking of what to include in my essay,” said Owen Hustek, an eighth-grader at Memorial Middle School of Middlebury, one of the many sending districts for NHS’ FFA program. “The open house did help me a little bit in what to write.”

McMillan wants to ensure that the students entering the program will help to keep the program growing and moving in the right direction.

“Another big part of the essay is [the students] explaining how you can benefit our program if you were to be accepted,” McMillan said.  

Students are given the chance to prove to McMillan that they really want to be here. The essay should capture that idea and helps Nonnewaug staff in deciding who is the best fit for the program.

“It is really all a process of getting to know [the students] on a personal level and understand them better,” said McMillan. “The essay is what we really hone in on to get this information. It tells us if they’re really meant to be here and that they are coming for the right reasons.”