Who can resonate with this?
When I arrived as a second year teacher in my previous school, FFA was not a priority of the school. The students in the program did not care about the content. They did not know the vast opportunities that were available in FFA. They rarely were recognized on the state or national stage.
I remember being so frustrated coming from a well established FFA chapter where opportunities were endless and the school district recognized the worth of the program. I knew I wanted to change the perspective of the program but those changes do not happen overnight.
So what did I do?
I began blasting the worth of the program and putting FFA IN THE LIMELIGHT!
Here are a few of the PR tools I used to change the perspective in my students, staff and community:
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WEBSITE: I created a squarespace website for the program which highlighted the courses in the program, accomplishments of the FFA chapter, and ways for community members to become involved.
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NEWSLETTERS: I began sending out monthly newsletters created by the chapter’s reporter. Read about my approach in the Sharing Your Story blog post found here.
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POSTERS: Our school received a grant to purchase a poster maker. I began creating posters any time my students found success at state CDEs or LDEs, and displayed them around the school. Find a copy of the Canva template I used here.
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SENIOR RECOGNITION: To highlight the seniors and provide younger members something to strive for, I printed senior posters (similar to in sports) and hung them along my hallway to showcase the seniors in the program. Find a copy of the Canva Template I used here.
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SOCIAL MEDIA: I believe this is one of the most important aspects you can do to showcase the amazing work your chapter and program are doing. I would recommend having your students and their guardians sign a photo release form (find the signature page I used for this photo release in last week’s blog Setting Expectations on Day 1). My students and I used Canva to create creative Facebook and Instagram posts. Here are a few examples: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, Example 5.
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LOCKER SIGNS: To showcase the number of students who are in FFA and motivate younger students in the school to join FFA when they are able to, my officers placed locker signs on every member’s locker at the beginning of the school year. I had officers print them on cardstock, cut them out and laminate them. Here is the Canva Template I used here.
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THANK YOU NOTES: My officers sent out a lot of thank you notes throughout the year so we created custom thank you notes. You could have them professionally printed but I printed them on cardstock and had officers cut them out. Here is the Canva Template I used here.
These were just a few of the ways I tried to highlight FFA as a premier student organization to students, staff and community members in Houston. I believe this approach allowed me to grow membership from less than 70 to 125 in five years and receive the buy-in from students necessary to be a top 10 chapter in the nation three times through the National Chapter Award program. Good luck! I’m rooting for you!