Kirtland FFA was just one of two chapters to be honored in the state as a National Three-Star FFA Chapter, the highest rating it can receive.
In San Juan County, the chapter was the sole recipient of recognition by National FFA and has seen continued growth in enrollment and engagement, said Zane Webster, agriscience teacher at Kirtland Central High School.
Webster, who is in his fourth year of teaching, said the chapter had five students in his first year, but now around 100 students are enrolled.
“Each year our chapter becomes more competitive on the state and even national level through lots of different contests like career development events, leadership development events, and this award really highlights the work we do here in Kirtland,” he said.
The award goes back to the quality chapter plan that is developed at the start of each year with three main categories:
Those categories are then split into five subcategories that detail different events the chapter can do to highlight leadership, agriculture or strengthening community, said Webster.
In Kirtland, students led several projects such as the Read to Win initiative. That provided free admission to the San Juan County Fair for children who read 20 books over the summer in an effort to increase literacy rates.
Other projects include partnering with Judy Nelson Elementary for Farm Day to highlight their spring reading of “Charlotte’s Web,” and the annual Cultural Immersion event that has been made into a schoolwide and public event.
“We have really great students here at Kirtland and a lot of the things we do are their ideas and things they’re passionate about,” Webster said. “That’s really what takes us to that next level is that the students are really pushing themselves to be better leaders at our school and our community, and that’s really helped our FFA grow and become what it is now. Their goals are even set higher for the future.”
Located near a rural region like Navajo Nation while also being near urbanized areas like Farmington, Webster said he believes it is the diversity of students that makes the Kirtland FFA chapter unique.
“We have students from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, but also we have students that live in the city, students that live on a farm, students that live in between, and having all of those opinions and kind of life stories really blend and mesh well together to create just kind of a dynamic chapter that allows us to explore new ideas,” he said.
Webster said when he received the call from the state staff directly about the award it signaled to him that the chapter was moving in the right direction after having less exposure in former years.
Webster also recently completed the 23rd annual National Association of Agricultural Educators National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy, joining more than 536 outstanding agriscience teachers from across the country who have earned the title.
The NAAE Ambassador Academy is a professional development institute with those being selected having the opportunity to attend the academy in Lexington, Kentucky, where they learn about inquiry-based teaching methods as well as how to draw out the science that is already present in many agriculture topics.
Students like Sydney Triplett and Deizshaun Edsitty are success stories for Webster who has seen personal growth while being involved in the chapter.
Triplett, who placed fourth in the state for horse evaluation, has put in the work to build her confidence in competition while Edsitty leans into leadership as he starts his Supervised Agricultural Experience and holds agriculture workshops with elementary schools.
“I think the future is extremely bright. I’ve had more kids ask me this past week about FFA and enrollment and how they could be a part of FFA than ever before,” Webster said. “With that growth, trying to come up with more ideas of how we can help our community, what our community needs, what our students need, and try to use our FFA chapter as a resource to benefit everyone around us.”