Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Tyler
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/20/2019
Finding Your Fit (Tyler/FFA - 2019)
Granton FFA member promotes organization as state officer
Jillian Tyler, a Granton FFA member, is the 2018-19 state vice president of the Wisconsin FFA Association. As part of her officer duties, she has visited local schools to promote the FFA and support their FFA chapters. (Contributed photo)
Granton FFA member Jillian Tyler is this year’s state vice president of the Wisconsin FFA Association. Tyler has traveled the state working with FFA members and agricultural education students.
“I have helped students find their passions, further develop their leadership skills and advocate for agriculture,” Tyler wrote in a press release.
During Tyler’s year of service as a state officer, she completed a chapter visit with every FFA chapter in Section 7, consisting of FFA chapters in central Wisconsin. Local chapters in Section 7 include Abbotsford, Colby, Gilman, Granton, Greenwood, Loyal, Neillsville, Owen-Withee, Spencer and Thorp.
Tyler said one of her favorite chapter visit activities to complete with students was called “Junk Tower,” as it allowed her to show students the many ways they could get involved in FFA.
FFA offers a variety of activities for students. Activities include career development events, leadership development events (formerly known as speaking contests) and leadership conferences and workshops at the local state and national level. FFA members may also participate in community service projects, as well as contests including the agriscience fair, artwork contest, honors band and chorus and many more.
“All of these different activities and contests help members to develop their leadership skills and expand their knowledge. However, many members do not realize that these opportunities even exist,” Tyler said.
“Through a deck of cards, Legos, popsicle sticks, plastic straws, a Matchbox car, tape and a plastic cup I was able to show members that there are so many things available to participate in through the FFA but also that you get to choose.”
Students were instructed to build a tower with the supplies Tyler gave them. Every group of students that tried the activity was able to build a tower in the time allotted; however, each group’s tower looked different from the other towers in the classroom.
“All groups of students were given the same supplies to work with, yet in a class with five groups there were five completely different towers,” said Tyler. “After questioning the students about why the towers were different, one student answered, ‘Our tower is different because we made it. We have different viewpoints, different personalities and different perspectives which is what drove us to build our tower exactly as we did and why the other groups built their towers as well.’”
“This student was exactly right; each group of students was unique to the other[s] just like every student in the group was unique to their fellow members,” Tyler wrote.
Some groups used all their building supplies while others picked and chose what they would use, said Tyler. Some groups built their tower to be structurally sound while others built their tower based on looks.
“I then explained to the students that how they built their towers is how FFA works,” said Tyler. “There are many options to pick from in FFA and you get to choose. You get to pick what suits you in FFA, whether it [is] attending leadership conferences because you want to grow and develop your leadership skills or participat[ing] in the honors’ band because you love playing an instrument.
“You have the power to decide if FFA will play a vital role in your life. I encourage you, whether you are an FFA member or not, to reach out to your agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor today and ask them what you could be doing in FFA. There is a place for everyone, but you have to take the first step.
Jillian Tyler (front, third from l) is a member of the state FFA officer team. (Contributed photo)
