Hosting the 2024 National FFA (Future Farmers of America) Week at James Buchanan High School, the Conococheague FFA chapter organized a series of activities to celebrate the occasion. The FFA arranged a spirit week followed by the Ag Olympics.

“I thought the spirit week was a really good opportunity for people to see into the agricultural world and have fun with it at the same time,” Avery Cook (10) said.

In anticipation of the Ag Olympics, the FFA set up a spirit week featuring themes that resembled traits of the FFA. Monday, “Hat Day,” allowed participants to wear a hat to school if they donated one dollar to the FFA, which gave all proceeds to Heifer International. “Farmer’s Day Off” encouraged students to dress in their pajamas on Tuesday. Held on Wednesday, “Country vs. Country Club” pitted two styles against each other. Students and staff showed off their red, white, and blue clothing for “USA Day” on Thursday. Rounding out the spirit week on Friday, “Blue and Gold Day” promoted FFA colors. Also held on Friday, the Ag Olympics were held at the end of the day.

“It feels pretty great to be president,” FFA President Lindsay Plessinger (12) said. “There’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s worth it.”

Commencing the assembly with an introduction, Plessinger, along with her fellow officers, ran the entire event.

“For the Ag Olympics, our FFA officers plan everything out and run pretty much everything,” FFA advisor Mrs. Mikayla Englert (staff) said. “I try to delegate by giving them tasks to complete, but I would say overall it’s mostly student led.”

FFA officers introduced and explained each game at the Ag Olympics while they rewarded class points and cheered on their peers.

The first game at the Ag Olympics had students and staff competing head-to-head in musical barrel racing. Following the barrel racing loop pattern, the competitors raced to steal a seat before anyone else. Levi Breon (9) secured the first victory of the assembly.

In the next event, students shucked corn as fast as they could to see who could shuck the entire cob first. Elijah Risser (10) won the corn shucking competition.

“It was egg-celent,” Mr. Andrew Smith (staff) said.

Smith and Mrs. Emily Poffenberger (staff) took home a win for the teachers in the egg toss. In this game, partners threw an egg back and forth to each other in an attempt to be the last team standing without breaking their egg.

“That was quite embarrassing yet disturbing,” Ms. Danielle DeFelice (staff) said.

The donut eating contest challenged participants to eat a donut suspended from a string without using their hands. The junior class finished first in the donut eating contest due to Noah Shetler’s (11) performance.

“‘Kiss the Cow’ is probably my favorite part,” Plessinger said.

A fan favorite event, “Kiss the Cow” allowed students to vote for which staff member they wanted to see kiss a cow. Students voted by making donations to a staff member of their choice. The staff member with the most donations would later kiss the cow. All proceeds went to Heifer International, a nonprofit organization that distributes animals and agriculturally trains families in need around the world to help them become self-sufficient.

“It just felt like kissing my dog,” Mrs. Jamie Zimmerman (staff) said. “She was about the same size as my dog, so it didn’t really feel like kissing a farm animal. I was happy to kiss the cow.”

Assistant Principal Zimmerman kissed the cow at this year’s Ag Olympics. In celebration of her birthday, Olivia Cutshaw (12) also got a chance to kiss the cow.

Ending the Ag Olympics with a student relay race and a staff relay race, Hunter Blair (11) and James Bell (11) beat their competition, alongside Mr. Brian Stull (staff) and Mr. Colby Sites (staff).

“I hope students can see a sneak peek of different parts of agriculture that a lot of people don’t realize is actually a component of agriculture,” Englert said.

While some may have thought the Ag Olympics were simply to have fun honoring the FFA, the assembly actually held a deeper meaning. The Ag Olympics served to shed light on how much people relied on agriculture in their daily lives while raising money for a charity. The FFA hoped students realized the importance of agriculture and that many things were related to the agricultural field.