A message from Juleah Tolosky - Director, New York FFA...
Please accept my heartfelt congratulations on the success of your students and teachers at least week's National FFA Convention. In a group of 72,000 attendees, these students stood out for their ambition, their invested efforts and their sheer talents. As a state association, we were thrilled to celebrate your students as they achieved a Gold-Ranked placing in the National Dairy Cattle Evaluation Career Development Event.
Earning the opportunity to represent New York and then preparing for success in a National Career Development Event is no small task. With an event as robust as the Dairy Cattle Evaluation event, there are many knowledge and skill-based nuances for students to tackle. These students worked hard and their achievement is significant. I hope you'll find an opportunity to connect with them and share your respect for their achievement.
This message would be incomplete if I didn't include an acknowledgement of the key role your FFA advisors, Chris Kelly and Lily Berghorn, play in delivering opportunities to students and preparing them for success. Serving as an agriculture teacher and FFA advisor is not about the achievement moments, though they certainly are nice. From high quality classroom instruction to out-of-class practices and from traveling to develop presentation skills at community or local competitive events to attending county and state fairs, programs find success in November because teachers help students explore, grow and succeed week after week - and year after year. Your agricultural educators are powerful examples of what a teacher can do for a student and they are engaged and respected on district, state and national levels. It means so much to local agriculture teachers and FFA advisors when the colleagues who they see on a daily basis recognize how much effort they put in to help students grow.
Congratulations, again, on your students' incredible achievement.