Finding the "Right Fit" for a Cooperating Center

In order to talk about what I'm looking for in a Cooperating Center, its important to talk about the program that I know


Good Ole SST FFA

In being from New Hampshire, I've come to realize just how much smaller our FFA scene is. While PA has a couple hundred chapter across the state, we have around 15, our scope of agriculture also isn't as diverse as PA, and in general, the state itself is much smaller than PA. All this being said, though we be small, we are mighty!

My specific program that I was involved in was though our local technical school, the Seacoast School of Technology (SST). When I was a student, you were eligible to partake in SST as juniors and seniors and for most programs, there was only two year offered for it. So I enrolled in Animal and Plant Science I my junior year, and went on to take Animal and Plant Science II my senior year. These were taught by one ag teacher, Anne DeMarco (also known as Wonder Wo
man herself) and covered a wide spectrum of agricultural topics. The main areas covered were dairy science, small animal husbandry, vet science, plant science, reproduction, digestion, equine science, and a little bit of landscaping and sustainable agriculture.

Our program had affiliate FFA membership, meaning that if you were a part of class, you were a student in the class, you were also a member of SST FFA. Because of this, we were the largest chapter in the state and, quite frankly, the loudest.

Because of the size of NH FFA, we were able to compete in a lot of different Career Development Events, or CDEs. The most notable phrase of my FFA experience was my advisors words of, "Hey Maddie I put you in another CDE!" and there was a culture in our chapter of "just try it!"



The combination of these two things made for a rigorous and challenging two years in FFA, and I grew more than I ever thought possible. I tried just about every CDE out there and even pulled out 4 state titles in my time in the blue corduroy. I was chapter president my senior year, went to National FFA convention, made friends across the state and the country, and pushed my comfort zone constantly.

The Maddie who started SST FFA is not in any way shape or form the Maddie that graduated from SST FFA.

The Laundry List of Wants Starts Here

When thinking about growth areas, one of the things that makes the top of my list is a place with a very strong and well established FFA program. Allow me to elaborate:

I only know one very specific type of FFA chapter in a state very different from PA. Not only is every chapter different from each other, but so are state FFA associations so I'm looking for a school that has a very student-run chapter that can give me some insight and an overview of how PA does things. In addition, just getting acclimated to a program that covers freshmen to seniors and has multiple classes will be something very different than what I am use to.

Seeing as all I know is a single teacher program, I am looking for a program that has at least two so I can see how things are run with two teachers.

Also at the top of my list is a school that really focuses on SAE and incorporates it into their instruction and utilizes the "SAE for All" model. While everyone in SST FFA had an SAE, it was different in how it was structured and talked about in the classroom, so I would like to have a Cooperating Center that emphasizes this aspect of the three circle model.

As far as content goes, my weakest area is easily ag mechanics, so I'm looking for some place that is very strong here so that I can grow myself in this content area. I know very little about ag mechanics, but it is something that gets me very excited and im ready to learn more. I would also love to find someplace that does some environmental sciences because I have always been very nerdy and passionate about it, but as far as knowledge goes I don't feel I am as strong as where I would like to be. If I could find somewhere that has some agronomy and livestock as well, as I could use some growth in both of those areas.

While those are areas where I feel like I could grow, animal science, vet science (pictured to the right on top is me competing in the vet science CDE), and equine science (also picture to the right, NH's state winning horse judging team in 2016) are all my strong suits, so it would be nice to have a program that offers at least one of these.