March 18 – Prairie View A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Human Sciences (CAHS) hosted its Sixth Annual Invitational FFA Career Development Event (CDE) featuring high school FFA students competing in eleven agriculture-related events at various campus venues on February 21st. The events provided opportunities for students to demonstrate their abilities in the following career and leadership areas: veterinary science, extemporaneous public speaking, nursery and landscape, floriculture, land evaluation, home site evaluation, farm business management, entomology, milk quality and poultry evaluation. Event winners received team and/or individual awards (plaques and/or medallions, respectively) at an awards ceremony following the event.

Kudos to the CAHS Dean and Director of Land Grant Programs, Dr. Gerard D’Souza, for his support and leadership in this endeavor to engage volunteers college-wide, and other participants in the University community, as well as the University’s friends. At the awards ceremony, D’Souza addressed participants regarding the potential far-reaching impact of this event and how the CAHS is making a positive difference in the lives of youth through CDE and related events.
FFA student participants totaled 859, and instructors/chaperons totaled 134 from 81 school districts around the state, with participants as far away as San Antonio, Texas, and Lindale, Texas, each about 170 miles away. Additionally, 135 students and 47 faculty/staff/friends of Prairie View A&M University volunteered to assist in hosting the event.

The CAHS hosts one of many Invitational CDE and Leadership Development Events (LDE) conducted by various institutions around the state throughout the year. The Invitationals serve as an opportunity for students to gain practice in their designated events to prepare for area, state, and national FFA competitions.
CAHS Associate Professor and CDE and LDE Planning Committee Chair Dr. Wash A. Jones said that in addition to FFA students gaining practice and valuable contest experience, the events provide excellent exposure and residual benefits for the College by showing students and their teachers the academic opportunities available to students at PVAMU.

“Bringing students to Prairie View A&M University leads them to realize that we are another academic option for them if they want to pursue a degree in agriculture,” Jones said.

Research findings suggest that significant others, such as agriculture teachers, in the lives of high school students boost the likelihood that these students will pursue agriculture-related careers. Therefore, having the agriculture science teachers on campus with their students heightens the possibility that the teachers will encourage their students to consider PVAMU College of Agriculture and Human Sciences as an option for enrollment.

Horace D. Hodge, USDA/1890 Program Liaison Officer and Assistant CDE Planning Committee Chair, played a key role in the inauguration of the campus CDEs and LDEs. Hodge said, “These events provide many students an opportunity to visit PVAMU for the first time to showcase their skills. The FFA motto: Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live and Living to Serve is exemplified throughout this exposure.”

Since the inaugural CDE in February 2014, CAHS has hosted almost 5800 students on campus for this event. The next Leadership Development Event is scheduled for October 2019 and the next CDE is scheduled for February 2020.

This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 1890 Extension Formula Program projects under Section 1444.

 

Dr. Wash Jones

 

Dr. Wash Jones
Associate Professor
wajones@pvamu.edu
(936) 261-2538