Eight area FFA members get American Degrees

Prestigious award presented at FFA National Convention

  • Evan Pankoke (left) of Hampton was one of eight local FFA members to be awarded their American FFA Degrees at the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo held recently in Indianapolis, Ind. He is pictured with his high school FFA advisor, Joel Miller.
    Evan Pankoke (left) of Hampton was one of eight local FFA members to be awarded their American FFA Degrees at the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo held recently in Indianapolis, Ind. He is pictured with his high school FFA advisor, Joel Miller.

    A group of local collegiate FFA members were awarded their American Degrees at the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo held recently in Indianapolis, Ind. Eight students from Aurora, Hampton and High Plains were among the more than 5,162 FFA members to receive the organization’s highest award. This year’s class was the largest group of American Degree recipients in the organization’s history.
    Area students receiving the award this year included Morgan Bonifas and Ayeanna Smith, both of Aurora; Eli Arndt, Brayden Dose and Evan Pankoke, all of Hampton and Cameron Ditloff, Esperanza Lesiak and Ryan McNaught, all of HPC. Not all of the recipients were able to attend the convention and will receive their awards in the mail. 
    American FFA Degree recipients must satisfy rigorous requirements to reach the milestone, including keeping accurate and detailed records of their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), earning and investing specific financial amounts, maintaining good academic records and staying involved at the state, chapter and community level. The honor represents years of dedication to agricultural education, leadership and service — a milestone that relatively few achieve.