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Get Up!

Make your chapter meetings interactive and fun

Get Up!

Fort Recovery FFA members bob for apples during the fall Fun Fest.



September 2008

Let’s face it: Monthly chapter meetings can be a bore. Sure, you get a lot done. But for the most part, it’s an hour’s worth of opening ceremonies, sitting around, listening, tossing out a few ideas and making plans for upcoming events. You can speak up, voice your opinion and make a difference, but it’s work. You’d be hard-pressed to call it fun.

But what if it was? That’s a question an increasing number of chapters are trying to answer. They’re taking a new approach to the tried and true, putting an exciting twist on what traditionally has been anything but. The results? We traveled to Fort Recovery, Ohio, to find out.

Going Big
The Fort Recovery FFA Chapter in west central Ohio has all the ingredients for a great program.

“We’re a small, rural farming community,” says Michael Gower, who, along with Joe Hawk, serves as chapter advisor. “There are a lot of good farm kids here. Everyone’s eager to be here.”

In a school of 300 students, Gower says, 118 are in FFA.

For an idea why, consider the chapter’s annual Fall Fun Fest, which is held in conjunction with their October meeting.

“We do an entire fall theme,” Gower says. Before the actual meeting, where the real work is done, there are hayrides, a bonfire and a hot dog cookout. Following the meeting, members bob for apples, bake pumpkin seeds and take part in corn-shucking contests, among other things.

Keeping it Light
Other meetings, while scaled down a bit from the big fall festivities, are still entertaining. Yet they also accomplish a lot.

“Everyone knows there’s a meeting to get through first,” Gower says. “They’re 20 to 25 minutes long, and during that time we keep things focused and serious. The whole idea is to make it not only productive, but also attractive to students.”

FFA member Chris Gehret agrees.

“You hear about some other chapters where they just have their meeting and sit around and talk,” he says. “Our goal is to keep it fun.”

When officers are planning their next meeting, Chris says, they brainstorm activities that everyone will enjoy.

“As officers, we’re all students. We think about what we find fun, and just try and go from there,” he explains. “You just try to get a simple, fun game and take a very laid-back approach to it, so that everybody feels welcome to participate and get involved.”

In the end, Gower says, when the meeting is over and it’s time to hang loose, you’ve just got to laugh. Forget the big sports tournaments, he says, and instead try something like beanbags or miniature golf.

“Do something different every time,” Gower says, “and no one gets bored.”

Story by Chris Hayhurst


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