By Cindy Gladden, Record Staff Writer
Future Farmers of America (FFA) will celebrate National FFA Week from Feb. 18-25.Beginning in 1928, the first group of FFA members met in Kansas City. Although an important part of the group’s history, it is not just for future farmers.Dana Sherman, 18, a senior from the Warrenton High School FFA, is a perfect example of this generation’s members. Daughter of Don and Donna Sherman, Dana did not grow up on a farm, but she knows an awful lot about what goes on in the agriculture industry.“I don’t think I could live without doing FFA stuff,” she said. “I’ve taken almost every single ag class. My goal is to be an FFA adviser.”Sherman said you have to gain a lot of knowledge in a variety of agriculture subjects to even consider attempting to teach it to students — plant and animal science, conservation, food science, ag business and economics, welding and ag journalism, to name a few. She considers her advisers, Dan Burkemper and Diane Miederhoff, a great team of mentors to the FFA members.“They care a lot about each and every one of us and help us reach our full potential,” she said. “We have lots of hands-on lessons.”Recently Sherman won first place in the regional FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program. The intent of the program is to help FFA students consider agriculture careers and develop skills in that direction. She will now compete at the state level in mid-April.Sherman has contributed 227 volunteer hours toward her SAE. Her program application detailed the work she is doing to advocate agriculture to all ages.“All of these hours were on her own time spent outside of school to specifically educate younger students about agriculture,” said FFA Adviser Dan Burkemper. “It is always rewarding to see FFA members recognized for their success, especially when they have worked so hard to invest their time in others like Dana has.”Since 2014, Sherman has taught children at Wesleyan Kiddie Kollege by introducing them to gardening and agriculture. Children ages 3 to 6 were able to get their hands dirty by planting their own vegetables.“When we went into the gardening space initially the kids were scared of the dirt and worms,” she said. “My most proud moment was when the kids ate tomatoes from the garden plot during snack time.”The second part of her SAE was her contribution to the FFA knowledge team, spending at least 30 hours teaching and coaching the team for competition. Her work included scheduling practices and communicating strategies to remember a vast amount of agricultural information.Sherman also assisted with the 4-H meat goat project, demonstrating a variety of skills to new goat owners. She taught students to trim hooves, clip goats for the Fair and make homemade halters. She also demonstrated and taught proper show ring etiquette.“A disadvantage that I faced was having so many new families with younger members who were afraid of the goats and had no knowledge of how to raise or handle their goats,” she said in her SAE application. “I overcame this challenge by teaching the members and their parents how to care for their goats.”“I have great memories from doing all this,” said Sherman.She is looking forward to attending the University of Missouri in Columbia this fall and joining the collegiate FFA chapter. Long-term goals are to teach agriculture as an FFA adviser in her home state of Missouri.Dana Sherman, 18, of Warrenton, recently won first place in the regional FFA Supervised Agricultural Experience competition. She has spent more than 200 volunteer hours teaching children about plant sciences, coaching the FFA Knowledge team and assisting with the county 4-H meat goat program. Cindy Gladden photo.
