Minnesota FFA is nearing its centennial as the state was granted a charter from the National FFA in 1929, and the legacy that has been growing ever since was on full display at this year’s — the 95th — state convention.

In a previous article, I wrote that history was made as the Grand Rapids FFA Chapter boasts placing three of its members on the state officer team for 2024-25. Over the years, state officer teams have made history, from the first female state officer to the first female state president, to a number of times a chapter has had two members on the team of six. But this is the first time that three from one chapter take seats on the same officer team.

Grand Rapids seniors Emma Braford, vice president; Kaiya Grossman, secretary; and Victoria Gunderson, sentinel join Lauren Stoel, president, from Murray County Central; Cole Sundeen, treasurer, from Rockford; and Natalie Clemenson, reporter, from Zumbrota-Mazeppa, on the officer team.

Living legacy

Not sure if history was made with the showing of five young men from the Worthington FFA Chapter, but they deserve mention for their accomplishments.

Wesley Widboom, Lance Gordon, Evan Hansberger, Vince Vander Kooi and Caleb Barber each earned their state FFA degrees this year, five of the 395 that were awarded. That alone is a great accomplishment — but what makes it more interesting is that they are merely living up to a legacy.

A few years ago (being kind to the elder statesmen here) the fathers of the Worthington five also earned their state degrees: Matt Widboom, Bill Gordon, Tim Hansberger, Joe Vander Kooi and Jeff Barber apparently passed on the FFA legacy to their sons. That legacy exemplifies the theme for this year’s FFA Convention — Achieve. What It Takes.

Threepeat team

Doing what it takes is on display during the state FFA convention, as hundreds of FFA members and their chapters took home hardware to indicate their hard work and dedication. What a group of Maple River FFA members accomplished is rare — not unique, as it has been done before — but their feat is noteworthy nonetheless.

Repeats and threepeats are phrases that get thrown around in the sporting world as high school, college and professional sports teams that build dynasties claim multiple championships in a row. FFA rules prohibit the building of such runs of success, as once an individual or a team wins a contest, they cannot compete in the same category again.

The Maple River team of Bri Burkhardt, Martha Price, Brooke Reuter and Natalie Wenner make up the top crops team at this year’s state convention. That completes an unorthodox threepeat for these four, as they also made up the 2023 state landscape top team after taking top honors as the championship floral team in 2022.

Rather than being satisfied with one state championship, these four stuck together to live out this year’s convention theme: Achieve. And they did what it took to claim their prize.

Each of these four are seniors, so there will be no fourpeat. The work they put in and the success they achieved will no doubt inspire and drive those who follow them in the chapter.

By winning state, they now have an opportunity to compete at the national level. So their inspiring work isn’t over.

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