JENKS, Okla. – A childhood memory of sending a “Flat Stanley” to her family led the Jenks FFA chapter adviser to encourage her agricultural communications class to do something similar in hopes of connecting with other chapters across the country.

“I remember when I was a kid and sending a ‘Flat Stanley’ to my family in other states,” Chelsea Shelton recalled. “I mailed him along with a letter asking them to take him around with them on adventures and document it, then mail it back to me. It was so exciting getting it back in the mail and seeing all the new and cool things he experienced.

“I had a memory pop up of this moment and that’s when I had the idea that it would be a fun project for my ag communications class. We were in the middle of our unit on journalism, so the timing was perfect. After further investigation, I found a few other ag teachers who had already done something similar in their chapters. They asked for other ag teachers to volunteer to complete this project with them.”

Shelton said she had her students research chapters in all 50 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico that the students thought might be interesting to connect with because of the area they lived in or the things they’ve accomplished. The students created “Flat FFA Members,” wrote a letter explaining the purpose, and sent some pictures or examples of a Jenks FFA Flat Member, she said.

The Flat Stanley children’s books were introduced in 1964. In 1995, the Flat Stanley Project was created. The activity features paper cut-outs that are mailed to friends, relatives, or students at another school. The purpose is to promote literacy skills by sharing Flat Stanley’s adventures with others.

After the students mailed off the letters and Flat FFA Members, they anxiously anticipated their return, Shelton said.

“We did not get responses from every chapter,” she noted. “It felt like at first we were not going to get any. Then when we did, it was so exciting. We got responses back from 15 different chapters.

“My main hope with sending the Flat FFA Member and not just the letter was so that we would receive pictures back. Pictures tell a much bigger story. It’s fun to bring the little Flat FFA Member around with you to normal daily activities and it helps share the story.”

A chapter in Pennsylvania shared how they baked 1,500 cookies for an event at a state park, Shelton said. Greenbrier East High School members took the Flat FFA Member to their modern livestock class and he tagged along to their school barn in the afternoon to help break frozen water in animal troughs. The Alaska FFA chapter consists of 10 members and their letter said they have a beautiful glacier behind their school and that their ag teacher is from a neighboring town to Jenks, Shelton said.

“I hoped for my students to learn about agriculture and FFA programs,” she explained. “See the cool differences even from neighboring states. Not all of us practice agriculture the same way and vary in the strength we have in our ag education programs. I believe my students saw this and in the process, made some friends.”

The class plans to send out more letters to end the school year, she said.