Gilmer Schools finishes National FFA week

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FFA week

EAST ELLIJAY, Ga. – Gilmer Schools has just ended its celebration of National FFA week in the system after a proclamation last Monday from Gilmer Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley officially designated the celebration in the Board of Education’s monthly meeting.

FFA week

The annual Gilmer County Farm Bureau Livestock Show.

Though Gilmer has just finished its celebrations, the proclamation and actual National FFA Week began yesterday, going from February 19 to February 26 according to Ridley’s proclamation. The school system celebrated early as this week is a holiday for Gilmer. The National FFA Organization that is celebrating this week has more than 735,000 members in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The week saw events on each day including teacher celebrations and a scavenger hunt and ended on Friday with the hosting of the annual Gilmer County Farm Bureau Livestock Show. This was Gilmer’s students last showing before heading to state this week during the national celebration of FFA Week.

Gilmer High School Agriculture Education teacher Claire Woodard said, “Each year, over 750,000 students throughout the entire United States band together to celebrate National FFA Week… As part of our kickoff, we wanted the board to help us with signing this proclamation.”

FFA week

Gilmer Schools celebrates its agriculture teachers with Ag Teacher Appreciation Day.

At the national level, this weeks celebrations involve Grants for Growing (G4G), a competitive grant program for middle and high school FFA chapters that are developing and improving project-based or experiential learning opportunities for students, sponsored by Tractor Supply Company (TSC) and funded purchases of an FFA paper emblem at TSC stores during checkout. Wednesday is the national Ag Teacher Appreciation Day. Thursday hosts Give FFA Day, a day completely focused on encouraging communities to donate and support, in any way, local students and chapters of FFA. Friday becomes Wear Blue Day as a celebration of pride in the FFA program across the nation. The week also hosts several online and interactive activities like agriculture and education trivia.

So while the schools may be on holiday, Gilmer FFA students are still celebrating both online and in person with activities all week. With support of the school system as a whole and from the national organization, National FFA Week is still underway and will continue into the coming years. In fact, future dates for FFA week have already been set at the National Level for the coming years including February 18-25, 2023, February 17-24, 2024, and February 15-22, 2025.

 

(Photos provided by Gilmer Schools and Gilmer FFA program.)

“I Heart Ga Milk” day at EES

Bobcat's Corner
I Heart Ga Milk
Misty Friedman, Farm to School Nutrition Coordination for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, plays with Georgie's, Georgia Grown's mascot, ear at the I Heart Ga Milk Day at EES on February 14, 2020.

Misty Friedman, Farm to School Nutrition Coordination for the Georgia Department of Agriculture, plays with Georgie’s, Georgia Grown’s mascot, ear at the I Heart Ga Milk Day at EES on February 14, 2020.

ELLIJAY, Ga. – Gilmer Schools saw a special Friday as they celebrated the I Heart Ga Milk Day at Ellijay Elementary School with guests from the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

The event was hosted in Gilmer County as part of the state’s Georgia Grown “Feed My School” program from the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Gilmer Schools’ Nutrition Director Linda Waters helped make the program possible along with staff and faculty of Ellijay Elementary and also hosted Misty Friedman, Farm to School/Nutrition Coordination for the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

Friedman commented on the event saying, “My job is to bring more Georgia foods to our Georgia students. And events like this just puts us on the front lines of all the great work that’s being done to support our Georgia Farmers and to really teach our kids where their food comes from.”

The celebration lasted through breakfast, serving hot chocolate milk with marshmallows early that morning and saw the staff wearing their I Heart Ga Milk t-shirts while Georgie the Georgia Grown mascot and the Chick-fil-A Cow mascot hung out with the kids. Staff handed out pencils and educational materials about “the benefits of milk.”

Friedman went on to say, “I love coming out and visiting with the schools and seeing the kids enjoy, literally, the fruits of the labor of our Georgia Farmers.”

 

 

See more photos at FYN’s Facebook Page.

I Heart Ga Milk I Heart Ga Milk

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