‘We All Feel Like A Family’: Stillwater FFA Growing Future Leaders, Named Nation’s Best Chapter

The Stillwater Public Schools FFA club won the 2023 FFA Models of Excellence Program. At a national competition, they proved they were the best. The best in the country out of about 9,200 chapters.

Stillwater Public Schools takes tremendous pride in growing the next crop of agriculture leaders.  

The school’s Future Farmers of America chapter proved it is a cut above the rest. The future is hard to predict, but students in Stillwater believe their work today impacts tomorrow.   

“We have a higher standard for ourselves,” said Trinity Blosch, a Stillwater FFA officer. 

For a lesson in agriculture, just pay a visit to the FFA farm at Stillwater Public Schools. Senior Ryan Crosthwait will gladly give you a tour. 

“My dad is a third-generation farmer making me number four,” Crosthwait said. 

From the greenhouse to the shop, there’s something to learn. Skills anyone can use.  

“Growth as leaders, as well as public speaking skills,” Crosthwait said. 

FFA is for everyone, just ask Blosch.

“I have no tie to agriculture. I don’t have a family farm,” Blosch said. 

Yet here she is serving as a leader of a special group of kids.  

“You can be a leader, even if you’re not the most outgoing person,” Blosch said.

Kyriana Beard found her confidence in FFA and her passion. 

“I was so shy,” said Beard, about how she’s grown as a public speaker. “It really means a lot to me.”  

Teachers like Bailey Kliewer plant the inspiration, but the students drive the bus. 

“The reason I do my job is because of the students,” Kliewer said. 

Aubrie McEndoo said they work hard. The evidence is the hardware on the wall.

“We have been successful as a chapter for a long, long time,” Crosthwait said. “It wasn’t just standing up there receiving that trophy, but it was really the people and the lives that we impacted here.”

People might be looking at the Future Farmers of America, but people are seeing the community leaders of today.  

“We all feel like a family,” Beard said. “We’re all linked together.”