Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture Julius Johnson is pictured with FFA members who attended Forestry Camp.
Fifty-six Tennessee Future Farmers of America members from more than 10 chapters attended State Forestry Camp facilitated by Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry foresters, consulting foresters and one Domtar forester. Chapters attending the camp ranged from Munford FFA just north of Memphis in Tipton County, Oakland FFA in Murfreesboro and Carter County FFA north of Knoxville.
The camp is at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Pikeville, Tenn. Upcoming juniors and seniors who are FFA members must be nominated by their high school agriculture teacher to attend the camp.
Forestry Camp teaches students the importance of environmental conservation and responsible forestry practices throughout the week in the field, around Camp and at Assembly. For Assembly, groups rotate each night to lead the evening program, and individuals are given the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills, team build with their peers and fortify their commitment to FFA through instruction of the forestry profession during the week.
FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education, said officials. Nationally, there are 579,678 FFA members, aged 12-21. The Tennessee FFA Association is comprised of 13,644 members from 213 high school chapters, seven middle school chapters and eight collegiate chapters across the state of Tennessee. To learn more about FFA visit www.tnffa.org.
Students are pictured learning to use various tools to further their knowledge and skill in the forestry industry.