The Marietta FFA Chapter has been named a 3-Star National Chapter, the highest award that a chapter can receive at the national level.
“We will be recognized in November in Indianapolis at the national convention,” said Advisor Josh Bazor, “so that’s quite an accomplishment for us.”
The National Chapter Award program is designed to recognize FFA chapters that implement the mission and strategies of the organization and seek to improve chapter operations with emphasis on three areas: growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture.
In order to qualify for this prestigious award, a chapter must complete activities in each of the three areas, in addition to completing a rigorous application process.
“When we have our officer retreat in the summer, our team chooses our 12 activities for the year – four in each of the three areas, and sets goals for each activity,” explained Bazor. “All of the things we do every year like the nursing home barnyard, washing fire trucks, the welding rodeo, and several others, all of that is planned then.”
The chapter applied for the 3-Star Chapter award based one their selected activities.
“This was really a group effort. The kids stepped in and did a lot of the work, too,” said Advisor Kelsi Kamesch. “But it’s really Josh’s baby, something that he’s wanted to do for a long time. It was a lot of work – I don’t think we expected how much work, but we got it done. It’s a great honor for our chapter, and also a very humbling experience. This will make the national convention a different trip for us.”
And the icing on top of the cake is that along with being recognized as a 3-Star Chapter, Marietta is also in the running for another award. Chapters that receive the 3-Star rating are eligible to compete for the National Premier Chapter Award, a recognition of the top chapters with innovative activities.
Marietta’s welding rodeo, held in November 2022, pitted the skills of high school welding students from several chapters who visited Marietta to show their stuff. Winning competitors received prize packages. That activity, recognized under the growing leaders category, is now a Top 10 Finalist – in the nation.
Select Marietta FFA members will go to through an interview process, possibly on their way to another national recognition at the Indianapolis convention, that of a National Premier Chapter.
“That activity is something that Josh has been working on for a long time, and to have it recognized on a national level after the first year of doing the welding contest, we’re just tickled pink,” Kamesh remarked. “I can’t think of anything better that could’ve happened for us.”
In the interview process, two Marietta students will be interviewed about the activity and its benefits to the membership, as well as how it grows leaders and promotes agriculture. From the ten finalists, three chapters are chosen to advance to the top three, and from that round, the Premier Chapter Award recipient is chosen.
“The only thing that makes this a little bittersweet for us is that two of our kids who made the welding rodeo their activity are now college freshmen. They’re still eligible to compete in the interview process, but getting them out of their college classes to go to Indianapolis may be next to impossible,” reported Bazor. “It’d be sad if they worked so hard on the activity and then couldn’t be there to compete or to be recognized for their work.”
However it shakes out, when Marietta’s chapter attends the FFA National Convention, they’ll be recognized in front of attending chapter members from across the U.S., quite an accomplishment for Love County kiddos.
“You know, we’ve been doing these things for 25 years, but I guess this is the first time we’ve ever put it all down on paper. We probably have 50 or 60 hours in that application,” said Bazor.
It’s really amazing when you think of it by the numbers. There are 8,995 FFA chapters in the U.S., and Marietta is being recognized as being one of the top 10 – that’s less than the top one percent of all chapters in the nation.
And if all 8,995 of those chapters have 12 activities, that’s over 100,000 activities, and one of Marietta’s is one of the best in the country. And that’s way, way less than the top one percent of all chapters in the nation.
In recent years, Marietta’s FFA chapter has won multiple back-to-back ag power mechanics championships at both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa State Fairs, as well as having several superlative showings in various categories at the prestigious Oklahoma Youth Expo. So to those of us who’ve been paying attention, the national recognition is just proof that the rest of the world has finally caught on to what we’ve known all along: that Marietta FFA is, quite literally, the gold standard for high school chapters.
“This is really rewarding in the sense that welding is my passion, and that the welding contest is what we’re being recognized for – that’s validation for me and for our kids,” Bazor stated. “I always feel like our chapter has good activities and we’re doing good things for our members and our community, but when you’re recognized for it like this, you know you’re doing things right. You always try to improve and make it better, but we’re doing things right, and that’s a good feeling.”