Each year the FFA Organization chooses the student leaders for the upcoming year. Those chosen to lead the organization spend the entire year representing all the members with various meetings, presentations, training and travel, both domestically and internationally. It can be a very demanding but rewarding job. Anyone chosen is up to the task and have gone through a rigorous interview process. The new leaders of FFA for 2025-26 are (shown in the photo from left to right):
Trey Meyers, President - Oklahoma
Lilly Nyland, Secretary - Michigan
Claire Woeppel, Central Region Vice President - Nebraska
Jael Cruikshank, Western Region Vice President - Oregon
Joey Nowotny, Eastern Region Vice President - Delaware
T. Wayne Williams, Southern Region Vice President - Tennessee
Also, each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, four FFA members are honored with American Star Awards for outstanding accomplishments in FFA and agricultural education. The American Star Awards, include American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience.
The 2025 American Star Award winners have been announced, recognizing outstanding achievements in agricultural education and leadership. Here are the winners:
Ryder Klaasen: American Star Farmer, Oklahoma, managing 420 acres of wheat-summer crop rotation and managing all on-farm and management decisions.
Blake Twenhafel: American Star in Agribusiness, Illinois, owner and operator of BT Lawn Care, established in 2018.
Nevin Erbsen: American Star in Agricultural Placement, Illinois, working for four agricultural businesses, including his family's 100-cow dairy.
Nathan Clark: American Star Farmer, Kentucky, managing a diversified family farm with over 500 acres.
These winners have demonstrated exceptional skills and competencies through their supervised agricultural experiences (SAE) and have been recognized for their active participation in FFA and their exemplary scholastic records.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
The TCAG team wants to congratulate all of these outstanding students. The officers have an exciting year ahead and will interact with many other leaders in business, politics, education and associations. Those Star Award winners have each demonstrated that they are the best at what they do within the FFA organization. One can almost guarantee they will be successful at any endeavor they choose to tackle going forward. If you have never attended a state or national FFA convention, I strongly encourage you to do so. The students in attendance are winners, in their own right, and truly represent the future of agriculture.
Speaking of attending the FFA convention in Indianapolis, the TCAG team was well represented. They even managed to take a couple of AGwagons® for display. All reports indicate they were a huge success and drew large crowds each day. If you don’t have one on your lot yet, what are you waiting for? Order a new AGwagon today – it will help you draw a crowd as well.
