Thanks to Bill McVay, Roger Carr and now Christina Nixon, the Whitko FFA is a chapter steeped in tradition with a local, state and national reputation for excellence.
Last week some of our Whitko FFA students, like others across the state and nation, drove farm tractors to school. A parade of tractors driven down a main street in a small town may not make the morning television news, but it should. (WRSW radio did report the event and dedicated a song to the parade as well!) If nothing else, the parade should serve as a reminder that all our lives are affected by agriculture in countless ways every day. Now, more than ever, agriculture education is playing an ever-increasing role in our nation's economy. With our state jumping on the ethanol bandwagon, more and more of our young people will be drawn to careers in production agriculture, agriculture science and related fields of study.
We know from our personal involvement in the FFA that it is a national organization with thousands of members and it a force to be reckoned with. There is none like it for equipping students with the basic leadership skills and scholarship opportunities needed to be productive, successful, well-rounded candidates in tomorrow's competitive job market.
We are writing to publicly congratulate Whitko's ag teacher, Christina Nixon, and her students for another successful year. Thank you for including the Whitko community, local supporters, faculty, administration, parents, Whitko FFA Alumni members and the school board in your National FFA Week celebration and in your chapter activities throughout the year. Thank you, also to the Whitko administrations who said yes to the tractor parade when it would have been very easy to say no given the current construction and student parking limitations.
Folks who have not been blessed with an ag background or who did not grow up with a respect for farming communities could easily view all this as pure hayseed poppycock! That would be sad, to say the least. We must never forget that long after many of us have moved on, the Whitko FFA will continue quietly doing what it does best - shaping young lives, educating tomorrow's leaders and clinging to the traditions that have helped define Whitko High School for so many years. Well done, Whitko FFA, and best wishes for another successful year. We are proud of each one of you.
