“Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” Proverbs 22:6
How do we put this verse into practice? In Iowa, the FFA has a special leadership program for Greenhands. It is known as the Greenhand Fire-Up (GFU). It is a leadership program created just for first-year high school FFA members! These conferences occur in each district throughout the fall. It is led by the district FFA officers with the assistance of state FFA officers. Hopefully, it will train up a Greenhand in the way he or she should go during their FFA career.
Figure 1. These Greene County FFA members attended Fire-Up in the Fall of 2021. Photo from the Greene County News Online for October 17, 2021.
At the Fire-Up conference FFA members attend four different leadership sessions. They are:
- True Blue Communications – Learn how to communicate effectively with others.
- This or That – Looks at establishing priorities and managing time.
- We are FFA – Describes various opportunities in the FFA Organization
- Keep it Real – Encourages members to be authentic and respect others.
If one searches for “Greenhand Fire-Up” on YouTube, several different videos about Fire-Up can be found.
The earliest I could find a mention of the Greenhand Fire-up in newspapers.com was in 1996. I did find 40 newspaper articles in Iowa about this activity. A typical newspaper article about Fire-Up is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. From The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. October 19, 2021.
The reason I did not find earlier mentions in newspapers of Greenhand Fire-Up was because this event was not always called that. Scott Johnson, Iowa FFA Executive Director, tells me it was called Greenhand Camp in the earlier days. It might have started with a local FFA chapter in Indianola, Iowa.
From being a localized event it is probable that the Greenhand event grew to be a district wide event and was then adopted by all six districts and then became a statewide event. Scott writes ” We suspect it was started in one of our six FFA districts and then eventually adopted by all six districts and then eventually a statewide program delivered consistently through the six district locations. Our current involvement statewide last fall was about 2800 students. This is about double the involvement compared to a decade ago.”
I did find an article about the Greenhand Camp dated 1975. The Monrovia, Iowa FFA members were going to attend the South Central District Greenhand Leadership Camp on December 5 & 6, 1975. The camp was being held at the state 4-H campgrounds in Madrid. Greenhands from 39 different FFA chapters were expected to be in attendance. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. from the Monrovia Union (Monrovia, Iowa), December 4, 1975.
So what do Greenhands say about Fire-Up today? A state FFA document about Greenhand Fire-Up contained these reactions from program participants:
- “I loved meeting new people!” ~NE District Greenhand
- “It was GREAT! I wish I could come back next year!” ~SE District Greenhand
- “I learned there are many things to get involved in when you join FFA!” ~NW District Greenhand
- “It was EPIC, and if I could do this everyday, I would!” ~SE District Greenhand
The Iowa FFA
According to the Iowa FFA Association website there are 19,700 FFA members in Iowa in 263 chapters. Iowa was the 22nd state chartered by the National FFA. That was in 1929. To see the Iowa FFA charter application follow this link. Originally the dues were 25 cents of which 10 cents were sent to the national organization.
Concluding Remarks
Several states have similar programs for Greenhands. If your state does not, it might be something you want to consider. One could even consider having such a program at the chapter level to get the Greenhands fired up about the FFA. Or perhaps the FFA chapters in a county could get together and create a Fire-Up type of program. Remember – Train up a child…. The Iowa FFA has been doing it for at least 50 years now.
What is an FFA Enrichment Center? Stay tuned for next week’s Friday Footnote.