The West Central Valley FFA Chapter held their jacket and degree ceremony for new members Monday, but this school year has already been filled with community service projects, elementary school activities, trips, and more.

Chapter Reporter Sydney Neal says one of the highlights so far this year was their October community service project at the Henry A. Wallace Country Life Center in Adair County where they helped harvest about 5,000 pounds of sweet potatoes which were donated to the Food Bank of Iowa. They also already finished their fruit sales, which Neal says some members collected over $1,000 each from the fundraiser.

A senior, Neal says she was grateful to go to her first FFA National Convention which took place October 30-November 2 in Indianapolis, “We met people from Hawaii and Florida and California like you just get to meet everyone and just talk to people that you never would on a regular basis and it’s basically just a fun time to spend with your friends and meet new people.”

For the rest of the fall semester, the West Central Valley chapter has their monthly activity night this November to include preparing a Thanksgiving dinner and playing games, and in December their monthly community service project will involve making tie blankets for the recipients to be determined.