HONESDALE, PA — After a snowstorm kept them from attending the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Convention at the Farm Show in Harrisburg, 21 students from the Honesdale FFA received their official blue corduroy jackets in a special ceremony on January 29 at the Honesdale High School.

Family members, friends and jacket sponsors watched as the students simultaneously put on their jackets for the very first time. The ceremony is intended to signal the beginning of much growth and achievement in their FFA careers.

FFA is an intracurricular student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership. It is one of the three components of agricultural education, in addition to classroom instruction and work-based learning.

According to the group’s website, “The letters ‘FFA’ stand for Future Farmers of America. These letters are a part of our history and our heritage that will never change. But FFA is not just for students who want to be production farmers; FFA also welcomes members who aspire to careers as teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners and more. For this reason, the name of the organization was updated in 1988 after a vote of national convention delegates to reflect the growing diversity and new opportunities in the industry of agriculture.”

For more on the goings-on with Honesdale FFA, see Claire Goldstein’s story.