FFA Week celebrates ag education legacy

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Every February, National FFA Week highlights the students, advisors, and communities who keep agricultural education strong across America.

National FFA Week began in 1948 and is scheduled to include Feb. 22, George Washington’s birthday, to honor the first president and his legacy as a farmer. What started as a celebration of traditional farming now recognizes the many agricultural careers shaping today’s economy, including mechanics, engineering, food science, and environmental systems.

In Tennessee, FFA’s influence is strong. The Tennessee FFA Association supports hundreds of chapters across the state, helping thousands of students develop leadership, technical skills, and career-readiness. The Tennessee General Assembly has recognized FFA Week in past resolutions, and governors have encouraged citizens to celebrate the role of agricultural education in the state’s workforce and economy.

But beyond statewide recognition, the true spirit of FFA lives in local chapters and in the advisors who guide generations of students.

• Tractor Day returns to MCHS

A Legacy ‘Here by the Owl’

For more than three decades, Moore County FFA was guided by one such advisor: Tommy Beavers.

Most FFA advisors, like Beavers, are truly unique. He devoted countless hours to the organization he loved, encouraging students to become their best selves not just in the classroom, but in life.

Beavers’ daughter, Shea, noted he “was invested in the FFA program and extremely proud of his students. He always viewed his students as the best, pushing each of them to reach their full potential.

“The students knew [he] believed in them because he would not only tell them, but also show them.”

A graduate of Central High School in Fayetteville, Beavers earned his degree in Plant and Soil Science and Horticulture from MTSU in 1980 before later completing his Master’s in Education. After teaching two years at Page High School, he arrived at Moore County High School in 1982, where he served as agricultural education teacher and FFA advisor for 34 years, retiring in 2016 with 36 total years in education.

With his guidance, Moore County students participated in FFA skills and public speaking contests, attended state and national conventions, organized fundraisers such as fruit sales and St. Jude events, and enjoyed outings ranging from Ag at the River to Nashville Predators games. He mentored students from their Greenhand Ceremony through their senior FFA banquet, and often continued to support them long after graduation.

Beavers’ impact reached beyond the county lines as well. He mentored other advisors and was named Tennessee Mentor of the Year in 2014. Former students remember his humor, his high expectations for reciting the FFA Creed and following shop rules, and his ever-present encouragement. Many still refer to him affectionately as being “Here by the owl.”

Building on the Foundation

That foundation continues to bear fruit.

This year, Moore County FFA competed in the Crimson Clover District Ag Mechanics Contest for the first time in 12 years and finished third overall as a team.

Individual highlights included:
• Cody Burton – First place, Board Fitting
• Carson Bell – Second place, Small Engine
• Abbie Carter and JenaLee Deal – Second place, Land Measuring
• Oliver Noblitt – Second place, Three-Way Lighting
• Caden Searcy – Second place, Rafter Cutting
• Leah Hise and Hollis Switzer – Third place, Land Elevation
• Gabe Modero – Third place, Block Laying
• JT Thronberry – Third place, Tool ID
• Ike Holt – Fourth place, Torch Cutting
• Kholby Williams – Fourth place, Welding

The team also credited Chasity Craft for donating shirts and William Kuhar for volunteering as an event judge.

Ag mechanics contests test practical proficiency – carpentry, welding, electrical systems, and precision measurement – skills that mirror real-world agricultural and construction demands. Success requires preparation, discipline, and technical confidence – the very traits that have long been instilled in Moore County students.

Moore County’s First American

The American FFA Degree is the highest honor awarded by the National FFA Organization, recognizing fewer than 1% of members nationwide for exceptional achievement in agricultural education.

Daniel Gray achieved the degree in 2001, the first Moore County High School student to do so.

“It was a big deal,” Gray noted. “I had a student-teacher at Tennessee Tech who helped guide me. She was the state Sentinel, and she coached me.”

The American degree is the pinnacle of accomplishment in FFA and is typically awarded upon a member's high school graduation. To qualify, students must first earn the State FFA Degree, maintain active membership for at least three years, complete a minimum of 50 hours of community service, and achieve at least a “C” average in high school coursework.

Candidates must also demonstrate significant success in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) programs, including measurable earnings or investments in agricultural projects, as well as sustained leadership involvement at the chapter, state, or national level.

“I’m just an old farm kid,” Gray said, “I wasn’t big into sports, did my school work. I was right at home with FFA and Mr. Beavers.

“I grew up farming, and with dairy cows, and I always did good with the state competitions.”

Today, Gray works maintenance at the Jack Daniel Distillery, owns Lynchburg Grain Company, farms 500 acres, and has 300 head of cattle. “The job I’ve got is the one I want.”

More Than a Celebration

Moore County FFA is bringing back Tractor Day on Friday, Feb. 27. For FFA advisor Corey Searcy, it rekindles memories of lessons learned under Beavers, who passed away on April 23, 2021.

“My senior class was the first to do it, if I remember correctly, under Mr. Beavers in 2002,” he said. “Also, I felt this was a way to incorporate the standards that Mr. Beavers had set during his years as our FFA advisor.”

While national FFA Week lasts just a few days, its meaning goes far beyond February. It honors the students who rise before dawn to feed livestock, the advisors who stay late to prepare teams for competition, and the communities that invest in agricultural education.

In Moore County, it also honors a legacy built by advisors like Tommy Beavers and continued by students who keep competing, leading, and serving.

The blue jacket is still a symbol of opportunity. In Tennessee, from the state Capitol to local shop classrooms, FFA Week reminds us that agriculture’s future is already taking shape. It is guided by mentors, strengthened by tradition, and driven by the next generation.