Arizona FFA Foundation Unveils New Look

The Arizona FFA Foundation unveils the new logo, mission and vision. A special task force over the last few months went through the process of developing a powerful new mission and vision statement to help clearly share the Foundation's purpose.

Mission

Empowering the next generation of agricultural leaders: The Arizona Agricultural Education/FFA Foundation cultivates strategic partnerships and secures financial resources to invest in Arizona's FFA members, agricultural educators, and communities. By doing so, we empower FFA members to develop strong leadership skills, achieve personal growth, and build successful careers.

Vision

Fortify Arizona's agricultural education and FFA programs, empowering students and agriculture educators for success in a competitive marketplace.

A new look for the Foundation logo was developed and a refresh of the website. This fall, the Board of Trustees, will be going through an indepth process for strategic planning, as we look forward to the next 3-5 years. We will dive deep, look towards the future, and determine how we can continue to make a significant impact. There are currently more than 13,000 FFA members from across Arizona and 84 Chapters. Interest has been expressed for additional agriculture education programs to charter an FFA Chapter in the near future.

National FFA Expands the

Proficiency Award Program

The National FFA recently approved the expansion of the Proficiency Award Program. Arizona will follow this path to offer more opportunities for students to apply through the award program to be recognized for their Supervised Agriculture Experience Programs.

With the expansion comes the additional need for award sponsors. In past years, the Arizona Association FFA has offered 36 Proficiency awards and this will now grow to 70 awards.

We invite you to visit our newly updated website, which provides a list of all proficiency awards and other award and program support opportunities available for sponsorship. We have also provided the list of opportunities below. You can visit the website to see the specific contribution amount.

Support can be made in many different forms to suit your giving style. A few of the many options may include: sponsoring a specific award or program area, giving a gift to honor someone, or setting up a scholarship. We enjoy connecting with everyone and helping donors determine the best path for their gift.

For more details about the specific programs, please email Foundation@azffafoundation.org.

FFA Proficiency Awards Available for Sponsorship

• Agricultural Processing
• Agricultural Mechanics Repair and Maintenance Entrepreneurship 
• Diversified Crop Placement 
• Agricultural Communications Placement             
• Agricultural Education Placement
• Agricultural Mechanics Design and Fabrication Placement
• Agricultural Processing Entrepreneurship          
• Agricultural Processing Placement                         
• Diversified Agricultural Production Placement
• Diversified Crop Placement                                     
• Diversified Horticulture Placement
• Diversified Livestock Production Placement
• Environmental Science and Natural Resources Management Placement
• Fiber and/or Oil Crop Production Placement
• Forage Production Placement
• Forest Management Placement
• Fruit Production Placement
• Goat Production Placement
• Landscape Installation Entrepreneurship
• Nursery Operations Entrepreneurship
• Outdoor Recreation Placement
• Poultry Production Entrepreneurship
• Service-Learning Placement
• Sheep Production Entrepreneurship
• Specialty Crop Production Entrepreneurship
• Specialty Animal Production Entrepreneurship
• Turf & Landscape Maintenance Entrepreneurship
• Vegetable Production Entrepreneurship
• Veterinary Science Placement
• Wildlife Production & Management Placement

2024-2025 State Officer Team

Congratulations to the 2024-2025 State FFA Officer Team that were recently elected in June during the 95th annual State FFA Leadership Conference. This team hit the ground running, with one day in between the conference and arriving in Phoenix for the camp staff training. They had the last week of June off before venturing back to Phoenix for the State Officer training! They will spend the next year conducting leadership programs for FFA members, traveling across Arizona for FFA Chapter Visits, attending industry events, and much more.

From left to right:

Top Row - Paden Dillard, Ryan Martinez - Reporter, Keston Zimmerman - Vice President, Samuel Frazier - Treasurer, Tyler Vallely - State FFA President

Bottom Row - Annabelle Williams - Secretary, Victoria Gonzalez - Vice President, Katherine Johnson - Sentinel, Jalia Reed - Vice President, Azalia Harvey-Leo - Vice President, Alisa Velasguez - Vice President

We invite you to join us for the Arizona FFA Foundation's 9th annual Blue & Gold Gala, to be held Saturday, February 1, 2025, at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa. The title sponsor is Arizona Farm Bureau and Farm Bureau Financial Serivices for this years "Biggest Night in Arizona Agriculture". This event will bring together more than 750 attendees to celebrate and support agriculture education and the FFA. The night will be filled with music, an amazing silent auction, fantastic live auction, and much more!

Now is a great time to plan a night out. Pick up a few tickets or gather some friends, family and colleagues, to secure a table sponsorship for the premier social event of the year! Since launching the registration, we have already sold more than 120 tickets, so don't delay! This event historically sells out!

We have the incredible past Arizona State FFA President and fellow friend of the agriculture industry, Mrs. Anna Aja returning as our auctioneer.

This is a great event to support and showcase your commitment to agriculture education in Arizona by becoming a sponsor. We have many sponsorship opportunities available between $500 - $15,000. Sponsorship opportunities are available by clicking the link below.

Our silent auction is one of the highlights of the evening, with a vast array of unique and desirable items, generously donated by businesses and individuals. We are seeking donations for our silent auction. Ideas may include: goods, services, experiences and gift certificates, that will captivate attendees and make our silent auction a resounding success. If you are interested in donating, you may click the link on the event site to submit your donation. Donations must be submitted by November 1, 2024.

Accommodations are available at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel & Spa, but are limited. The deadline to book your room is December 27, 2024, however we have sold out early in prior years, so do not wait to make your reservation. Rooms can be booked through this link, Hotel Reservations. If you have any challenges booking a room, please contact us.

We sincerely appreciate the continued support and dedication to the Blue & Gold Gala. and the Arizona FFA Foundation as it has made significant impacts to a variety of programs for youth in agriculture and agriculture educators. We look forward to your attendance at the 9th annual Blue & Gold Gala as we unite as a community to make this night a resounding success for the future of agriculture education in Arizona.

Register today to secure your seats through the link below. If you have any questions, please contact at Foundation@azffafoundation.org.

State Star Greenhand Awarded

Konner Hatch is the 2024 State Star Greenhand winner! He was recognized and awarded this honor at the 95th Arizona FFA State Leadership Conference earlier this month in Tucson. 

The following are brief descriptions of Konner’s four Supervised Agricultural Education (SAE) projects that secured his sought-after and distinguished Star Greenhand award. His SAE projects are Beef Cattle, Loading Hay, Grain Sales and Farm Machinery Maintenance.

Beef Cattle:

“My interest and motivation for the Beef Cattle project is to learn how to raise beef cattle,” he says. “I am already immersed in this project. My project goals are to learn how to properly raise beef cattle, learn how to feed people by raising animals for slaughter, and gain knowledge that many people don't know without this opportunity of raising beef. My project will be evaluated and supervised by my dad, an industry professional. In terms of project safety, important areas of safety include watching the cows, so they don't attack you, being aware of the loader as we feed the cows, and to not get hurt while doctoring and branding the cattle.”

Click here to read the full blog!

Star in Agriculture Placement Awarded

Jacqueline Ashburner is the 2024 State Star in Ag Placement winner! This incredible achievement was achieved through her two Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects with donkeys and mules.

Jacqueline describes her projects as follows, “These two SAE's started before I entered high school. My mom was raised with horses and has owned some her entire life. She was born in Belgium, so she didn't get her first donkey until she moved to the United States. Her very first donkey was a rescue and we had him for many years before he passed away of natural causes. My mom decided she loved donkeys and mules so much, and she hated seeing them abused and abandoned so often, so in 2014 she started her own 501c3 donkey and mule rescue. Occasionally, she would rescue a horse, but the main focus was to save the equines that were less popular.

That is when I truly got started with the passion I now have. Then, in 2019 I got the opportunity to tame and train a wild donkey for a competition put on by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, and the Bureau of Land Management. After that very first experience, I fell in love, and I knew that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Since then, I have tamed and trained 15 donkeys on my own and helped my family tame others. With each of these donkeys, I have learned so much. At the beginning of 2023, my mom gave me the opportunity to tame a wild mustang. It was completely different from any donkey I had ever worked with, and that experience made me realize just how much my donkeys taught me. Throughout the years, I have learned so much more than I ever thought possible about horses, donkeys, and mules,” she added.

Jacqueline started working with donkeys and horses at a very young age. As soon as she could walk, her mom started teaching her to clean the pens. 

Click here to read the full blog!

State FFA Leadership Camp

"Light the Fire Within" was the theme for the 2024 State FFA Leadership Camp, held June 17-21, 2024, in Heber, Arizona. More than 250 FFA members from across Arizona spent a week expanding their leadership skills, developing their personal growth, making friends, and participating in team building activies.

Each year, the participants partake in an afternoon of community service. This year, they completed nine different projects. The community service projects were supported through the Holbrook Pyle Foundation.

The projects this year, included: making blankets for the dog kennels, and dog toys which went to the Humane Society, in Payson. They assembled 40 bags full of non-perishable food and around 40 bags of hygiene items, to deliver to the Warming Center and the Time Out Shelter, in Payson. They made 6 Bocce and 4 bowling ramps for the Arizona Mountain Region Special Olympics, wrote letters to the military, assembled activity packets for the Arizona Farm Bureau, Ag in the Classroom, decorated camp with beautiful chalk drawings and completed a few enhancements along the trails around camp.

The video below debuted during the most recent Blue & Gold Gala, to share the impact that the State FFA Leadership Camp has for our members. We hope you will enjoy watching the video, if you were unable to view it during the gala.

Support Arizona FFA with each order through Walmart.com or the Walmart app, by making the Arizona FFA Foundation your preferred charity, when signed into your account. Then just check the "round up" box with each order at checkout.

The Foundation is an approved charity for the Fry's Community Rewards Program. If you do not already have a charity tied to your rewards card, or do not have a rewards card set up, it is easy to establish.

Visit https://www.frysfood.com. Once logged into your Fry's account, you can search for The Arizona Agricultural Education FFA Foundation, either by name or RS160, and then click enroll. New users will need to create an account, which requires some basic information, a valid email address, and a rewards card. Each time you shop using your Fry's Rewards card, after you have attached us as your charity, then we will receive benefits.