The student body at Coal City High School joined the Grundy Area FFA organization in celebrating National FFA Week, a time for local chapters to share what FFA is and the impact it has on its student members..
FFA is a youth lead career and technical education organization focused on the many aspects of agriculture and the Grundy Area Chapter is comprised of students enrolled in the Grundy Area Vocational Center’s agriculture course taught by Brandy Biros-Tjelle. The course is housed at Coal City High School and is attended by students from Coal City, Reed-Custer, Morris and Minooka high schools.
The celebration of National FFA Week has consisted of dress up days and activities that culminated with an assembly Thursday morning—Feb. 20— that found the senior class dominating the various events—pie eating, calf bottle flip, hay bale tossing and a three legged race.
Several staff members participated in a fundraiser for the organization and as a result business education teacher Alicia Matusiak had the pleasure of kissing a miniature horse and science teacher Richard Taylor went nose to nose with a chinchilla. Additionally, school resource officer Josh Nugent took a pie to the face when he failed at ag trivia, and for the record high school teacher and former FFA member Matt Leman dominated the ag/FFA trivia contest.
FFA was founded in 1925 and formally established as a national organization in 1928. There are currently 386 agriculture programs in the state of Illinois with an enrollment that tops 41,000 and an FFA membership of more than 42,0000.