By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

DANVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky School for the Deaf has done many things in its 187-year history, primarily helping hearing-impaired children throughout the state. But one thing it hadn’t done was start an FFA chapter.

That all changed last week, as the school’s first chapter officers were installed while students at the school and beyond watched, including FFA members from area chapters and state officers. The ceremony marked the beginning of a process started by agriculture teacher and new FFA advisor Sandy Smock.

She began her career at KSD more than 24 years ago in the residential program, but only recently became the school’s agriculture instructor. Knowing what she did about FFA, Smock felt it was something that would benefit her students.

“As an Ag-Ed teacher, (I know) FFA is a component in the program itself.” she said. “In addition to the content we teach, we’ll have the SAE’s (Supervised Agriculture Experience) and that is where we go next.”

SAE is designed to let students learn to apply the concepts and principles taught in their agriculture classes to real-world problems and scenarios, according to the national FFA, and will be an important milestone for KSD’s group, said Smock.

The official FFA dress code caught the attention of many of the KSD students, as one of its part-time students is a member at the local county school and often showed up on campus with the familiar blue jacket. It became a way to capture the interest of many students.

“KSD is a very unique school. When students come here, they are offered things they can’t get anywhere else, and we are kind of self-contained in our own campus. We have total immersion in ASL (American Sign Language); that’s how we communicate,” said Smock. “As we learn more about the FFA competitions, it’s going to take my kids off campus and out of their comfort zone, and compete with the hearing students in this region.

“What that will do is test their innermost self, and I have great confidence that the program, along with the leaders here, will give them individual confidence that’s bigger than what I can do for them.”

Arielle Plummer, a sophomore at KSD and the newly installed chapter vice president, is already seeing some of that confidence and leadership skills FFA is known to provide. From a farming background, she is in a position to help those students coming to FFA at KSD learn more about agriculture.

“I was raised on a farm, so I feel I have been able to help some of the students with no farming experience,” she said.

Plummer added that in some ways she feels like a leader and is excited to be a part of the FFA program, and she hopes to be involved in competitions and go to the state and national conventions.

As with any new chapter, the group from KSD has had much help from others in the organization. Much of that came by way of the Gallatin County FFA chapter and its advisor, Kristy Jury, who said the experience with the students at KSD will be something they will always remember.

“I think this chapter has wonderful potential. The students are excited to be a part of something that they don’t quite understand yet, but they want to belong,” she said. “I really enjoyed my students experiencing the deaf culture. They jumped on the opportunity and wanted to be a part of this culture and present a united front in this ceremony.”

The Gallatin students even learned to say the Pledge of Allegiance in sign language in an effort to fortify the experience, something that carried over to other students at Gallatin County while saying the Pledge in their classrooms and watching those FFA members practice their signing. In fact, that school, along with the West Virginia School for the Deaf, joined the induction ceremony via video hookup.

Jury has a history with KSD. Her mother, Judy Burkhead, serves as career development teacher there and has become the unofficial “FFA Mom.” Jury visited the school while growing up to learn sign language, in order to teach deaf children at her church.
“To bring something from my background and teach my students about it and share a whole other culture, that is what teaching is all about,” she said. “It’s something they will never forget.”
Gallatin County FFA President Annabeth Edens, who also serves as the Northern Kentucky Region’s president, said the ceremony itself was a little nerve-racking but working with the KSD students was rewarding.

“To see how excited they were and how new they were to this, it was a great feeling,” she said. “It was neat to see how they live and be in their position watching them sign. It’s amazing to be a part of it and relate to the students here. We found they are just like us. I’ll be telling my kids about this.”

Curt Lucas, Kentucky FFA advisor, said the organization is about providing opportunities and this new chapter will enjoy all of those.
“Our program area, of course, is agriculture so we hope these students will find gainful employment and be involved in agriculture, but beyond that we know that for any society to prosper, all aspects of the society have to be involved, and there is something special about students here at KSD,” he said.
“With their unique needs, it important they understand there are jobs, careers and opportunities out there in the world of agriculture.”

Lucas also said the state organization is proud to have only the second deaf school in the country with an FFA chapter.

“This is quite an honor for Kentucky FFA, and we certainly hope that over time the students, parents and faculty here will see the development and benefit that FFA will give to the students in helping them to develop leadership skills and grow as people,” he said.