West Virginia Agriculture Heritage Contest
Every family has stories and photos depicting farm life from earlier generations. These stories and photos are sentimental and interesting to our family but they are also historical "treasures" for our entire state. To help preserve our state's agriculture heritage, the West Virginia FFA Association is partnered with the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia to conduct two separate agriculture history contests, essay and photography. The following essays were written by various high school FFA members across the state of West Virginia.
Their task: Find an older relative or friend to interview and write down a story that captures what rural life was like at a different time (at least 20 years ago or more).
Below are the list of winners and their essays (click on the links below)
1st Place - Lassie and the Ducks
by Kate-Lynne Hartley, Ripley FFA
2nd Place - My Farm Experiences
Parker Winters, Ripley FFA
3rd Place - Singing Conventions
Matthew Morrison, Cabell Midland FFA
4th Place - The Cowboy
Amanda Smith, Jefferson FFA
Honorable Mention
Grandpa and the Goat by Stacy Hill, Ripley FFA
Agriculture Story by Kristin Marshall, Ripley FFA
Special Thanks
Every initiative of this scope requires a team effort:
Every family has stories and photos depicting farm life from earlier generations. These stories and photos are sentimental and interesting to our family but they are also historical "treasures" for our entire state. To help preserve our state's agriculture heritage, the West Virginia FFA Association is partnered with the Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia to conduct two separate agriculture history contests, essay and photography. The following essays were written by various high school FFA members across the state of West Virginia.
Their task: Find an older relative or friend to interview and write down a story that captures what rural life was like at a different time (at least 20 years ago or more).
Below are the list of winners and their essays (click on the links below)
1st Place - Lassie and the Ducks
by Kate-Lynne Hartley, Ripley FFA
2nd Place - My Farm Experiences
Parker Winters, Ripley FFA
3rd Place - Singing Conventions
Matthew Morrison, Cabell Midland FFA
4th Place - The Cowboy
Amanda Smith, Jefferson FFA
Honorable Mention
Grandpa and the Goat by Stacy Hill, Ripley FFA
Agriculture Story by Kristin Marshall, Ripley FFA
Special Thanks
Every initiative of this scope requires a team effort:
- W.E.R. Byrne was a fisherman and a story teller. In fact because of his stories about the Elk River, and the people along its banks, first published serially in West Virginia's Wildlife Magazine and subsequently encapsulated in the book, Tales of the Elk, he has come to be regarded as one of West Virginia’s most famous story tellers. His great-grand daughter, Suzanne Thorniley, of Charleston, West Virginia, a long time major supporter of Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia, shares her grandfather’s passion for ensuring that the charm and lore of days now gone, not be allowed to be forgotten. The idea of fostering FFA student's efforts to re-capture those times, prompted her support for this contest and in his memory, Suzanne has generously funded the cash awards for the FFA winners.
- Annie Seay, whose son Sam was in the FFA, suggested the contest as a means of tying the next generation of West Virginia’s agriculturalists into Collaborative for the 21st Century’s mission of preserving the best of our Appalachian heritage.
- Jason Hughes, Co-Coordinator for West Virginia Department of Education’s Agricultural Division, spread the word to teachers across the state and coordinated all the details.
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