South O’Brien FFA members, Grace Fuhrman and Willa Sickelka, earned the Iowa FFA State Degree at the 94th Iowa FFA Leadership Conference. The Iowa FFA Degree is the highest degree that can be bestowed upon an FFA member by the Iowa FFA Association each year. Only 5% of the FFA members in Iowa receive the degree each year. To receive the Iowa FFA Degree, FFA members must meet the following standards: 1) Have been an active FFA member for at least 24 months; 2) Have completed at least two years of systematic instruction in agricultural education; 3) Have earned and productively invested at least $1,500 or worked at least 375 hours in a supervised agricultural experience program; 4) Have a satisfactory scholastic record; 5) Have demonstrated leadership abilities from a specific list of activities; 6) Have completed 25 hours of community service; and 7) Have participated in at least five different FFA activities above the local level. Each Iowa FFA Degree recipient received a certificate and the golden State FFA Degree Charm which is made possible with support from Pioneer-Corteva Agriscience through the Iowa FFA Foundation.
Grace Fuhrman also represented the South O’Brien FFA as a 2022 Stars Over Iowa Finalists in Agrscience. Grace’s agriscience projects involved researching biosecurity the first two years, and a social science project about Genetically Modified and Conventional seed the third year. Twenty finalists were selected in four different areas: Agribusiness, Agricultural Placement, Agricultural Production and Agriscience. The finalists were selected from a pool of 735 FFA members that earned the Iowa FFA Degree. The star awards recognize students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their career development programs and demonstrated outstanding management skills.