By Robert Pore
Grand Island Independent

   Keith Olsen, a FFA alumnus who earned the State Farmer degree, knows the value FFA has for young people in preparing them for future careers in agriculture.

   Olsen, who is president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau and has a successful farming operation in Keith County, also knows what would be the cost to Nebraska if this youth program were lost.

   “Nebraska will always need well-trained leaders,” Olsen said. “It would be short-sighted to let these terrific programs end.”

   That’s why Olsen said Nebraska needs to find the money to continue providing support for career education student organizations.

   “We’ll be sacrificing our future if we let the state’s most important leadership development programs die for lack of funding,” Olsen said.

   According to Sydney Paige, a senior at Northwest High School and president of the FFA chapter there, unless the Legislature acts, funding for the Nebraska Department of Education to coordinate the statewide activities of several leadership and career development student organizations will end on July 1, 2010. About $450,000 is needed annually.

   The organizations include FFA, FBLA, FCCLA, DECA, SkillsUSA, and HOSA.

   According to Nebraska Farm Bureau, nearly 20,000 secondary students participate in one or more of the organizations.

   Without the funding for coordination, Olsen said, the organizations could no longer offer statewide conferences and competitions, leadership camps, awards and recognitions, assistance to local chapters and participation at the national level.

   Paige said that a bill (LB476) has been introduced in the Nebraska Legislature to help fund FFA.

   The bill would create and fund the Nebraska Center for Student Leadership and Extended Learning, to provide support for the student organizations and offer expanded opportunities.

   “Our members across the state are following this bill very closely,” Olsen said. “Many have participated in these programs and they want them to continue for the young people of our state.”

   Participation in these career education organizations has a far-reaching effect at the local level in Nebraska communities, and also at the state and national levels, he said.

   “Although each group focuses on particular career interest areas, they all work to develop leaders by providing opportunities to build skills in public speaking, planning, teamwork and program development,” Olsen said.

   Along with Paige, Karen Buettner is also a senior at Northwest High School and a FFA member. She serves as chapter treasurer.

   Buettner said FFA has been an important part of her education since joining the organization as a freshman.

   “I have actually decided to continue agricultural education,” she said. “What I plan to do after college is to come back and be an ag teacher and FFA adviser.”

   Buettner said she has always “really enjoyed agriculture.”

   Raised on a farm that has been in her family for more than 120 years, Buettner said FFA has been a very important part of her education.

   Northwest High School FFA Chapter Secretary Amber Frauen, who is a senior, said her involvement in FFA for the last four years has done a lot of different things for her.

   “It has actually meant for me, as a person, to become more outspoken and to become a leader,” Frauen said.

   FFA has also led her to take a career path in agribusiness and to have a career in this area.

   “FFA has helped in a lot of different ways as it has put me out there so I could experience a lot of different things,” Frauen said. “I have met a lot of different people from a lot of different states.”

   As president of the Northwest High School FFA chapter, Paige said FFA focuses on leadership.

   “One of the great things about being chapter president is that not only do I get to lead, but I get to see the other members develop leadership skills as well. It has been a wonderful experience for me.”

   Current participants in the programs are actively working for them to continue, Olsen said.

   More than 2,000 are members of the Facebook page “Save Nebraska FFA.”

   “They also are using the Web site www.supportstudentleaders.com to connect,” Olsen said. “It’s terrific that the students recognize how important these organizations are to their futures.”

   Nebraska traditionally has funded coordination of the student organizations using federal Perkins Act funds; however, Perkins funding has remained at the same level since 1992, Olsen said.

   To cope with increased costs, he said, the Education Department has cut nearly 20 full-time positions since 1992.

   Olsen said the Perkins Act funding no longer is adequate to fund programs that it requires to be funded and programs such as the student organizations that may be funded with Perkins dollars.

   With Paige, Buettner and Frauen already planning on going to college, they said their FFA experience has helped them to prepare for that next step in their education.

   “A lot of what you learn in leadership training is how to be outgoing and to get stuff done,” Buettner said. “That’s really going to help in college in meeting new people, talking to the professors and learning how to communicate.”

   If there hadn’t been an FFA program, Frauen said, she would probably still be a “pretty quiet go-with-what-everybody-else-does kid.”

   “I would probably be that same way, but FFA has really gotten me out there,” Frauen said. “It has taught me how to be a leader. I don’t know if I would even be prepared to go to college without FFA.”

   She said FFA is still a viable, important organization as it prepares young people to be tomorrow’s leaders.

   Buettner also believes FFA has a strong future.

   “I believe that we still need FFA because it’s a great leadership organization that teaches kids how to be leaders and will later on contribute to their success and their future,” Buettner said.

   Paige said FFA’s mission is to develop students’ potential for leadership, personal growth and career success.

   “It would take a lot away from our society if they did take FFA away because a lot of kids would not be exposed to what this organization offers otherwise,” Paige said.