Cortez, Dolores FFA Chapters Mark National Week with Service, Outreach

Flower bouquets arrived at Vista Mesa Assisted Living and Vista Grand Nursing Home last week, hand-delivered by Dolores FFA members as part of a broader National FFA Week push that drew in students from middle school through high school across both the Dolores and Cortez chapters.

The week's programming ranged from classroom presentations on agriculture and leadership opportunities to an FFA-themed Jeopardy game hosted by chapter officers in Cortez. Officers and members also organized games throughout the week, while Amanda Ramos, FFA advisor for the Montezuma-Cortez chapter, described a schedule that included themed dress-up days, elementary-level outreach and a public-facing display project. "We had a different dress up day each day, and each class built a display about where food comes from to display in business windows along Main Street. We had a coloring contest for all the second graders, and we had our chapter creed speaking night as well," Ramos said.

The competitive centerpiece of the week was the AG Olympics, which drew classes against each other in a hay bale toss, obstacle course, pie eating contest and stick horse race. Classes competed for bragging rights and the chance to earn special rewards, according to a recap written by chapter officers Ellisia Winter and Emma Foster and edited by Bailey Duran for The Journal.

The flower delivery to Vista Mesa and Vista Grand represented the community-service thread woven through the week's schedule. Both Dolores High School and Montezuma-Cortez High School in Cortez are members of Colorado FFA's Region/District 3, a southwest Colorado grouping that also includes Bayfield, Durango, Dove Creek, Ignacio and Pagosa Springs.

National FFA Week has been held annually during the last week of February since 1948, timed to coincide with George Washington's birthday on Feb. 22 in recognition of his legacy as an agriculturist. Both chapters credited their members and officers for sustaining that tradition locally, with the week's events designed to keep agriculture visible inside the schools and across the wider community.