Lake County Gazette

The student body at Coal City High School joined the Grundy Area FFA organization in celebrating National FFA Week, a time for local chapters to share what FFA is and the impact it has on its student members.

FFA is a youth-led career and technical education organization focused on various aspects of agriculture. The Grundy Area Chapter comprises students enrolled in the Grundy Area Vocational Center’s agriculture course taught by Brandy Biros-Tjelle. This course is housed at Coal City High School and attended by students from Coal City, Reed-Custer, Morris, and Minooka high schools.

The celebration of National FFA Week included dress-up days and activities that culminated with an assembly on Thursday morning, Feb. 20. During this event, the senior class dominated various competitions such as pie eating, calf bottle flip, hay bale tossing, and a three-legged race.

Several staff members participated in a fundraiser for the organization. Consequently, business education teacher Alicia Matusiak kissed a miniature horse while science teacher Richard Taylor went nose-to-nose with a chinchilla. Additionally, school resource officer Josh Nugent took a pie to the face after failing an agriculture trivia quiz. Notably, high school teacher and former FFA member Matt Leman excelled in the ag/FFA trivia contest.

FFA was founded in 1925 and formally established as a national organization in 1928. There are currently 386 agriculture programs in Illinois with an enrollment exceeding 41,000 students and an FFA membership of more than 42,000.