FFA Chapters from across the country are constantly expanding into new horizons and looking for ways to have an active roll in the future and shaping the future with their own hands. The Roosevelt FFA Chapter in Colorado is a great example of leading the future of agriculture.
One of the ways the Roosevelt FFA Chapter is taking the future into their own hands is by making time to protect the environment. The Roosevelt FFA Chapter was the first FFA chapter to start recycling twine. As many of us know, twine plays a vital role in the agriculture community, but often after it has served its purpose it is thrown out and burned. The Roosevelt FFA Chapter saw that problem and played an active role in finding a new purpose for the twine in Northern Colorado.
In partnership with their local conservation district, which received a grant in order to get the machinery needed to recycle twine, the students began to start the recycling project. They went to local farmers and dairies in their community to spread the word of their new efforts. They also placed a recycle bin at their school and around many local businesses for anyone to drop off their twine.
In addition to bins at local businesses, the FFA chapter picks up twine from dairy farms up to 20 miles away. Once the students have collected the twine, they clean and wrap it up to be sent to Waste-Not Recycling in their community. With those efforts, the chapter was able to assist in recycling more than 6 tons of twine since October 2017. Which is then upcycled into many plastic uses, including buckets and even more twine.
The Roosevelt FFA President Keegan Ryan said, “Twine is a product that gets thrown into a landfill, burned, or thrown away on local farms and ranches. One of the great things about recycling and turning it into other products, is we are able to protect wildlife. It ensures the safety of a lot of livestock. It also reduces litter in our community. In general, it creates a purpose for the twine instead of being thrown away.”
In addition to being the first FFA chapter to recycle twine, the Roosevelt FFA Chapter also prides themselves on their evaluation program, which has competed nationally. Keegan is part of Roosevelt’s livestock judging team, which represented Colorado at the National Western Stock Show, which placed 8th this year. Vice President of the Roosevelt Chapter, Tessa, is part of the dairy judging team and in 2016 placed 9th at the North American Livestock Exposition in Louisville.
Roosevelt’s FFA advisor, Brent Hopkins, said none the success would be without the dedication and hard work the kids put in. Many members are involved in multiple extracurriculars and often practice for FFA events don’t happen until 7 p.m., but the students show up and work hard every minute.
“Our teams are very, very competitive. We think that is really a big advantage for our chapter, because it gives our kids a lot of opportunities and scholarships they might not have otherwise. Also, to have the experience of representing your state at the national level is something we are really proud to offer these kids and something they will never forget,” Brent said.
Not only has this hard work resulted in awards, but it also instilled hard work that last the students a lifetime. Brent said, “It is pretty cool how an experience with a contest — with the students giving up all their own free time outside of school — can translate into scholarships and also careers in the future.”
The Roosevelt chapter reaches out to every student, those with and without an ag background. “We stand out to a lot of kids at school who aren’t even from an agricultural background. For many kids FFA is a place for them to find where they belong. It is like another home and another family. All of our officers and all of our members make everyone feel so welcome.” With a chapter with 190 members and only one teacher, that is no small feat. Through orientation night, Thanksgiving dinner, and many more activities, the Roosevelt FFA Chapter is a place where many call home.
