By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

BLANCHESTER, Ohio — Blanchester High School in Clinton County is well known for its highly successful boys and girls high school soccer programs in southwest Ohio. But no other program at that school can rival the success of the FFA chapter at this school.

“We’ve been crowned national champions in 2003 and 2007 and it seems like we’re always in the top 10,” said co-advisor Dan Shell, who has been at the helm of the program for 18 years. He’s assisted by Kevin Abt, a co-advisor the past five years. “We’ve been fortunate to have finished in the top three in the state each year since 2001.”

Areas of concern for FFA advisors are economic, environmental, human resources, ag awareness and community development.
“Most FFA advisors hope a national honor happens once in their lifetime, but we’ve had it happen twice,” Shell said. “And that success has fueled the fire with the kids. We’ve got a great FFA program here at Blanchester High.”

And a successful FFA chapter at that. The Blanchester unit was the nation’s top-ranked chapter in 2003 and 2007 at national conventions. The chapter was first with its Model of Innovation in Community Development in 2007 and was first in 2003 with its Models of Innovation in Student Development.

“We don’t perform the tasks for the kids,” Shell said. “We just advise them. They get hold of it and go. We’ve just been blessed with good kids and good leadership from them.”

The enrollment at Blanchester High stands at 600. Of that total 153 are active with FFA at the school.

“We’re hoping to be recognized for our work in the 2008 school year,” Shell said. “They’ve been busy all year long.”

Busy indeed. That school year was comprised of three FFA efforts.
First up was Cardboard City, an economics effort whereby FFA members erected cardboard housing on the school lawn as an attention-getter to show the community the need to help the homeless. Money raised exceeded $1,500. A check for $1,300 was raised for the Clinton County Homeless Shelter, an increase of $300 over last year’s efforts. The group donated $270 to one of Ohio FFA’s recognized charities, Children’s Hospital. Forty FFA members and 28 non-ag students participated in this cause.

Next was the Fall Community Parade, the FFA’s citizenship activity which attracted 8,000 to this small village. The parade included 11 school floats, 25 community-represented units and the high school marching band. Three hundred informational brochures about agriculture education were distributed along the parade route.
“We stressed ag while the rest of the school stressed school spirit,” Shell said.

Third on the list last year was the Glenn Thompson Memorial Food Drive. FFA members partnered with local civic organizations on this human resource activity. The chapter collected more than $2,000 and 1,000 canned goods to assist 145 needy families over the Christmas holiday break.

The money collected was used to purchase perishable items needed. All members were involved in creating food baskets. “We’re always ranked in the top three in community development,” Shell said. “That’s one of our strong points.”

Shell and Abt are off and running for 2009, beginning with a Habitat for Humanity effort. The FFA group is building storage sheds.
“Each shed has about 500 man-hours in them from the students,” Shell said. “We build about three sheds each year.”

According to these two advisors, getting the students to participate in FFA is relatively easy. For starters, success breeds success. Secondly, word-of-mouth plays a huge part.

“We encourage the kids to understand that not only are they students but they’re part of the community,” Abt said. “We tell them that each person can do a little bit and even if you’re just one person you can make a big difference in someone’s life. Our activities help them realize that.”

“The students realize it’s not only about giving money, we stress to them that if you give of yourself and a little time you can make an impact on a community,” Shell added. “It just shows that you care.”
FFA on a national scale got under way in 1928. It was given life at Blanchester High in 1955. And it’s showing no signs of slowing down in this part of Clinton County.

“When I was interviewed for the job in 1990 there were 28 students enrolled in the program,” Shell said. “They told me I had one year to get it up to where it was fully funded with enough students to keep the program. As the years progressed we had enough students to have two teachers.”