A historic moment for New York City and New York FFA happened in February 2023.
Four FFA chapters were newly instated within the boroughs of the Big Apple and officially chartered into the National FFA Organization. James Madison FFA, Renaissance Charter FFA, New York Harbor FFA, and HART FFA chapter are now to join the city’s continued growth in FFA presence, following in the footsteps of already prominent and successful NYC FFA chapters.
“These schools have always been connected to agriculture in some way,” said Caitlyn McFadden, Urban Agricultural Education/FFA Specialist through Cornell University. Reaching her one-year mark in the position this coming summer, McFadden has been hard at work across the city, connecting developed urban agriculture programs to resources offered through the agriculture outreach program and FFA.
“A lot of schools in NYC are doing things related to agriculture, they just may not view it as agriculture,” Caitlyn noted. “The chapters who were charted at the chartering ceremony have been incorporating ag previously in their local high schools, they just haven’t been recognized as a comprehensive program with the three-circle model until chartered.”
High schools have long been teaching sustainable agriculture practices through hydroponics and aquaponics systems, with many high school educators delivering curriculum to their students that focuses on environmental sciences and natural resources.
Once charted as an FFA chapter, high schools have access to resources they may not have had prior to their recognition as an official FFA chapter. These resources, provided by the National FFA and Agriculture Education, allows those hands-on experiences in and out the classroom to expand.
“Teachers, parents, and stakeholders want students to be a part of FFA for all their resources, but also the ‘fancy and exclusiveness’ of the organization attracts them to it,” McFadden said. “They are eager to give their students the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”
The chartering ceremony for these chapters was coordinated by the New York FFA Association. The event was held at the Cornell University ILR Conference Center and attended by over 75 people, students of current and chartering chapters, parents of students, and stakeholders across the city.
The ceremony began with FFA’s traditional introduction of opening ceremonies by the current New York State FFA Officer team. State Officers then introduced Maria Martinez, former New York FFA member, State FFA Officer, and current National Association of State Departments of Agriculture employee.
As a product of the John Bowne FFA chapter, Martinez spoke to the current and chartering students through the lens of her own FFA journey. She shared her wins and challenges through her time being an FFA member and encouraged the students in the space to use their voices to be the kind of change they want to see in their chapters and communities.
However, she also knows what the students’ influence could be even beyond the local level.
Following her words, the State Officers continued the chartering ceremony with the official chartering of the chapters. Students and advisors were invited up, and before they framed their official charter, students and advisors signed the document as founding members. Juleah Tolosky, New York’s State FFA Director, also signed the charter to make the document official.
McFadden watched as programs were given a class set of FFA jackets, and students who were present were allowed to put them on at the conclusion of the chartering.
“The room changed from just a room of people to a sea of blue jackets,” McFadden said.
As the mother chapters and even blueprints for many of the chartered chapters, students from current NYC FFA chapters then stood up and shared their thoughts on the evening and the impact FFA can have on their lives when involved in the program. One of those to share their thoughts was Michelle Dmitrenko, member of James Madison FFA.
“The main reason I wanted to join the FFA is because I wanted to learn more about leadership and being able to lead other people. Whether that is through agriculture or any other means,” she said.
Similar sentiments were shared across many of the members and advisors.
Before the ceremony culminated with last remarks, the four new chapters were awarded a Link Logistics Hydroponics Grant. The grant was established to provide local FFA chapters funding to start hydroponics units in their own high schools. The grant was presented by Fredrick Johnson of Link Logistics, a stakeholder of the New York FFA Association.
The last remarks included three speakers, who individually congratulated the newly established FFA chapters. These speakers included National FFA CEO Scott Stump, Assistant Commissioner at the Department of Agriculture Marketing Damali Wynter, and Director of the Officer of Urban Agriculture through the NYC Mayor’s Office Qiana Micke.
Each speaker had great takeaway messages. However, it was Micke’s words that really provide the roadmap of purpose for these newly recognized chapters.
She shared in her speech that urban agriculture isn’t just something students should learn about, but successfully implement into their lives as a career or as an advocate. Rather than bystanders with information, our desire for our urban agriculture students is to have them pipelined toward a career in agriculture and be a part of growing the urban agriculture landscape.
No party ends better than a cake party. Cake was then cut at the conclusion of Micke’s speech, and folks present began to mingle.
“Students stuck around a little longer and spoke with the speakers, like Maria Martinez, which allowed the students an opportunity to practice building connections with people in their community. It was an awesome opportunity for them,” McFadden said.
“It was truly an amazing experience to see district 1 grow in numbers,” Mandy Li, member of the John Bowne FFA, said at the conclusion of the ceremony.
Now, while interviewing any one for my columns, I always like to end our chats with a simple question.
“What do you hope for __________?”
In this scenario, I asked McFadden her hopes because of this ceremony and the hopes for the chapters who are now officially chartered into the National FFA Organization.
McFadden hopes that the encouragement programs received and witnessed at the event allowed them to understand that as the programs begin, they are not alone in their journey.
McFadden also hopes that now that the chapter has more resources as a newly chartered FFA chapter, that they can grow their memberships and recruit other students interested in agriculture, environmental sciences, and natural resources.
“As I continue the expansion of FFA chapters across the five boroughs of NYC, I want to say that we chartered them truly in all five boroughs,” McFadden said. “I’m not in it for the numbers of students we get but knowing we will reach urban agriculture students who will pursue agriculture in post-secondary education, future informed consumers, and change makers for food insecurity across NYC.”
Bre Holbert is a past National FFA President and studied agriculture science and education at California State-Chico. “Two ears to listen is better than one mouth to speak. Two ears allow us to affirm more people, rather than letting our mouth loose to damage people’s story by speaking on behalf of others.”
