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Good Luck with Proficiency and State Degree
Preparations
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State FFA Degree
A. Information
The State FFA Degree is the highest degree that can be conferred by the
Nebraska FFA Association. Awards will be presented at the annual State
FFA Convention.
Candidates must make application by using the current application
required for the American FFA Degree. Applications are to be prepared by
the candidate and verified by the chapter advisor and chapter president
or designated officer.
The degree is awarded to all eligible members who are found to meet the
requirements. There is no limit on the number a chapter may submit or
number of degrees awarded.
B. Qualifications
To be eligible to receive the State FFA Degree from the state
association, the member must meet the following minimum qualifications.
1. Has received the Chapter FFA Degree.
2. Has been an active FFA member for at least two consecutive years (24
months) at the time of receiving the State FFA Degree.
3. While in school, has completed the equivalent of at least two years
or four semesters (360 hours) of systematic school instruction in
agricultural education at or above the ninth grade level which includes
a supervised agricultural experience program which must show
comprehensive planning, continuation growth, and increase in scope with
respect to opportunities available, with records to substantiate
accomplishments. In order to qualify as an “agricultural” experience, it
must be directly related to the food and fiber industry and the
experience/SAE must qualify under one of the agricultural proficiency
award categories.
4. Has earned and/or productively invested at least $3,000 (net income)
by the member's own efforts from his/her entrepreneurship or paid
placement supervised agricultural experience program, or worked (other
than scheduled class time) at least 1,500 hours in a placement or
experiential supervised agricultural experience.
OR
Have earned and productively invested at least $1,200 and worked 1,150
hours in excess of scheduled class time. Any combination of hours x 3.33
plus earned and invested dollars must be equal to, or greater than the
number 5,000. Hours used for the purpose of producing earnings reported
as productively invested income shall not be duplicated as hours of
credit to meet the minimum requirements for the degree.
5. Demonstrate leadership ability by:
a. Performing ten procedures of parliamentary law.
b. Giving a six‑minute speech on a topic relating to agriculture or the
FFA.
c. Serving as an officer and/or committee chair, or a participating
member of a chapter committee.
d. Showing leadership as evidence by participation in chapter, district,
state, and/or national agricultural education/FFA activities as well as
school and community activities.
6. Has a satisfactory scholastic record as certified by the local
agricultural education instructor and the principal or superintendent.
7. Has participated in the planning and completion of chapter program of
activities.
8. Has earned a minimum of 500 FFA leadership points, 150 of which must
be above the chapter level. Points will be awarded each time the member
participates in an activity. The activities must be sponsored by
Agricultural Education/FFA to count for leadership points.
The points schedule will grant points according to the following
schedule:
FFA National/Regional Level 30 points
FFA State Level 20 points
FFA District Level 10 points
FFA Chapter/Local Level 10 points
Examples:
State FFA Convention¾20 points for each year attended, additional points
may also be awarded if member participates in agricultural education
contests, attends Leadership Academy, etc., but not for each individual
convention session or workshop attended.
Chapter Meetings attended¾10 points may be awarded for each meeting
attended. An additional 5 points may be earned if the member serves as a
chapter officer/committee participant.
Activities must be Agricultural Education/FFA sponsored. Activities
involving school, 4-H, AK-SAR-BEN, breed associations, etc., count
toward the 10 activities required other than FFA.
9. Participate in a minimum of 10 different school/community activities
other than FFA. (Different activities refer to the type of activity,
offices held, level of involvement, not the years of involvement.)
10. Meet other requirements as established by the state association such
as:
a. Pass an FFA test provided by the State FFA Administration.
b. Has been personally interviewed by a committee of no less than three
persons approved by the respective FFA Board of Directors, District
Representative.
11. The Nebraska FFA Association shall be entitled to elect annually
those members who meet the qualifications of the State FFA Degree. The
completed State FFA Degree application and SAE record books from the
last two years of membership shall be submitted by the date established
by the district to the FFA Board of Directors Representative for the
respective district. After the district review and interview process,
the FFA Board of Directors, District Representative will submit the
applications of the candidates to the State FFA Association by March 1.
The State FFA Executive Committee shall then recommend the State FFA
Degree for the candidates found worthy to receive the honor.
C. Rules and Regulations
1. Active membership dues for candidates must have been paid to and
received by the Nebraska FFA Association on or before September 30 prior
to the year applications are submitted.
2. A local chapter may submit applications for the State FFA Degree in
either the production or agribusiness segments. There is no limit to the
number of applications a chapter may submit. Only seniors and
out-of-school members may submit applications for consideration.
3. Candidates must use the current American FFA Degree application as
provided by the National FFA Organization. The application is found on
the CD Rom sent out each year from the National FFA or downloaded from
the National FFA website.
The supplemental degree qualification checklist page provided by the
Nebraska FFA Association must be used with the application. The record
of leadership points should be kept in the record books as documentation
for the total number of leadership points earned by the applicant.
4. Candidates must submit the appropriate completed SAE record books
from the last two years of membership. Additional years of record books
may be submitted.
Applications submitted using the 1500 hours of work experience should
use the SAE experiential record or other records in documenting hours of
work and skills learned. It is essential to document the hours spent
learning transferable skills.
5. All applications and last 2 years of record books must be postmarked
for mailing or otherwise received by the FFA Board of Directors District
Representative on or before February 1.
6. Applications and record books will be judged as originally submitted
with no additions or changes permitted after they are received by the
FFA Board of Directors District Representative.
7. No additional pages of information, pictures, records, news articles,
or other materials will be permitted. (Financial information may be
added if space provided is not adequate and leadership points form may
be used to document leadership activities.) If any unusual circumstances
exist, place an asterisk by them and explain.
8. Beginning inventories must match previous record year's ending
inventories. Candidate's earned net worth cannot exceed total earned net
labor income.
9. The State FFA Degree Qualifications Checklist must be completed and
included with the application. All signatures, including the advisor's
are required. Disregard State Staff Member Signature in Section X.
10. The State FFA Executive Committee shall have the right to review
applications. If a question is discovered as to meeting requirements for
the degree, the State FFA Executive Director shall refer the question to
the NE FFA Board of Directors. The Board of Directors shall review the
application and supporting record books and be the final authority on
granting the degree.
A district may refer a final decision on granting the degree to the FFA
Board of Directors. The decision of the FFA Board of Directors is final.
A student may appeal a district decision to the FFA Board of Directors
for review. This appeal must be submitted in writing stating the reason
for the appeal and why the candidate believes they should be awarded the
degree. The written appeal must be submitted before the Board of
Directors meeting held during the February Made for Excellence
Conference.
D. Selection Process for the State FFA Degree and District Stars
Acceptable record systems:
1. The following components must be present to qualify as an approved
record book/system:
Financial Records
A. Income by enterprise
Cash
Non-cash
Ag placement
Gross/net income
Total hours (paid and unpaid)
B. Expense by enterprise
Cash
Non-cash
Ag placement
Expenses incurred
C. Placement and enterprise inventory
D. Financial summary
By enterprise
Total
E. Net worth statement
Non-Financial Records
A. SAE agreements
B. FFA/Ag Ed/School leadership activities and community involvement on
form provided.
C. Student profiles or other records¾needed to document the hours worked
and transferable skills developed in non-ag occupational experiences.
Guidelines for the interview process
1. It is recommended that districts select instructors and FFA Alumni or
agribusiness representatives to serve as district reviewers. One
instructor should be the FFA Board of Directors' representative.
The FFA Board of Directors' district representative shall have the
responsibility to establish the date, time, and place for the initial
record book and application review process. The review team shall be
divided in such a way that no instructor evaluates the applications from
his/her own school. The initial evaluation shall consist of reviewing
the record books and applications and preparing questions for the
interview process. The record books/applications shall be retained by
the FFA Board of Directors' district representatives until the interview
day.
A. Each candidate shall be interviewed by a team of instructors and FFA
Alumni/Agribusiness representatives (3-4 recommended).
B. The interviews shall be conducted for a maximum of 20 minutes per
candidate.
C. The candidate's record books and application shall be available to
them throughout the interview.
D. Interview questions shall be of a nature to determine the candidate's
knowledge of his/her SAE, skills and competencies developed, and
leadership abilities developed. Questions are not to "trap" a candidate
or to be unrealistic in nature.
E. Each candidate will be given a time for appearing. Once the test has
been taken and the interviews are completed, the candidate is free to
leave.
F. If candidates cannot be present on the interview date, they should be
scheduled for an interview before the date of the district interview.
This will allow them to be considered for star nominations.
2. At the conclusion of the scheduled interviews, the district review
team shall meet as a group and determine if candidates are to be
recommended for the State FFA Degree. This decision shall be based on
meeting the minimum qualifications, the quality of the SAE, skills and
competencies achieved, leadership development, involvement with the FFA,
and maximizing opportunities available.
State FFA Degree Test
1. The FFA Degree test must be administered on the interview day. The
test will be provided by the State FFA Office. All tests must be
returned to the State FFA Office along with the applications after the
completion of the interviews. Resources shall be the latest edition of
the FFA Manual, the FFA Student Handbook, the Nebraska and National FFA
Constitution/Bylaws, and recent issues (within one year) of the National
and Nebraska FFA magazines/newsletter.
2. Instructors must notify the FFA Board of Directors' district
representative of any candidate with special conditions which may impact
on the candidate's ability to take the test. The test will be sent to
the appropriate resource teacher to be administered within the
parameters of the candidate's IEP.
Special areas to evaluate
1. The State FFA Degree Checklist must be completed and attached to the
application. The checklist must indicate the requirements the student
meets to receive the degree.
2. Increase in owners equity must be equal to or smaller than the
maximum possible increase in owners equity.
3. Application and record book must coincide. If not, raises suspicion
as to quality and validity. The State FFA Degree may be denied based on
inaccuracy of the record book and application.
4. Hours worked in developing skills in non-agricultural areas may be
counted for the degree if they are transferable to agricultural
employment. Only hours spent learning the skills count. Unpaid hours of
experience need to be documented in the unpaid labor record or in the
SAE experiential journal.
E. Star Awards
The Star awards are presented to outstanding candidates who have
developed a balanced, quality program throughout their Ag Ed/FFA
experience. Two or up to 10% of the applicants in a given area
(production, agriscience, placement, and agribusiness) may be nominated
for star if the candidate's program is of acceptable quality as deemed
by the state degree selection committee. These star nominees shall
represent the "best" the district has to offer in each area. The star
selected on the district level will compete for semifinalist and state
finalist recognition unless they do not receive their state degree.
The applications (including the Star Battery) and records must be
submitted to the State FFA Office. A state committee will review the
applications and record books and select the 24 Star semifinalists.
These semifinalists will be interviewed by a team of qualified
evaluators at the annual state convention. The interviews will be
conducted using the same process as the district level. From the
semifinalists, 12 finalists will be named. The 4 state State Stars will
be named from the 12 finalists.
Criteria for selection as star shall be as follows:
1. A balance of the SAE program and leadership development shall be
utilized.
2. Maximizing the opportunities available to the applicant with
reference to both SAE and leadership.
3. Scope of the SAE is important; however, the scope must also be of
quality to be considered.
4. Consideration given to growth of the SAE/leadership development in
respect to opportunities available.
5. Skills/competencies developed throughout the entire agricultural
education tenure shall be considered.
Award recognition is as follows:
Star semifinalists¾plaques
Star finalists¾plaques
State stars¾plaques and scholarship awards
Back to the State FFA Degree
Page
Page Last Updated:01/23/2008
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