Tractor drive-in, ski trip highlight Rochester FFA Week

Fifteen or so farm tractors chugging down Main Street with a police escort is the kind of scene that draws attention, and the Rochester High School FFA Chapter uses the sight to draw attention to an important event in their school year: National FFA Week.

The week runs from Feb. 18-25. On Wednesday, Feb. 22, several Rochester FFA students will be participating in the annual tradition of driving tractors to school.

This year, they’ll meet up early at Rochester Meat & Deli for breakfast, then head for school at 7:30 a.m. They will then parade the tractors past the front windows of the school to start the school day while an announcer shares information about the tractors and FFA students over the public address system.

“That’ll be fun,” said Kyler Lowe, an 18-year-old senior who serves as president of the Rochester High School FFA Chapter. “It’s a good way to promote FFA.”

And that’s what FFA Week is all about: putting the spotlight on a national organization that helps youth at public school chapters to develop leadership skills through agricultural education and competitions.

FFA was established in 1928 as Future Farmers of America. It later adopted FFA as its official name to signal it’s open to anyone, whether their future might be in farming, an industry

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