By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL / Staff Writer

Jemison High School’s Future Farmers of America held its annual Christmas banquet at Jemison City Hall on Dec. 15.

“The main reason for this event is to celebrate the Christmas season, but [also] to recognize those students that have completed a project or earned recognition this far in the season,” FFA advisor and agriscience teacher Clay Mims of JHS said.

Members were recognized for various competitions and Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) projects managed throughout the semester. The top five members who raised the most money during FFA’s Halloween and Christmas fundraisers were also recognized.

SAE projects were a combination of short-term and long-term projects that focused on an area of agriculture, from farming to livestock judging and showing to creating and running personal businesses, such as pet daycare, lawn maintenance or landscaping, according to Mims.

Mims said the banquet celebrates the progress made thus far on the students’ projects, which will be completed in the spring and recognized with certificates and awards at the FFA year-end annual banquet in early May. Some projects will continue into the next school year.

“When the club was established in 1928, FFA stood for Future Farmers of America. But the name has been changed to the National FFA Organization,” Mims said, explaining that the new name allows for a broader encompassing of agricultural aspects that extend beyond farming.

“From the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the cars we drive and the homes we live in, it’s all connected to agriculture in some way, when you stop and think about it,” Mims said. “Everything is grown, produced, farmed, raised somewhere, somehow.”

This year’s banquet theme was “It All Began In A Barn,” a slight agricultural reference to the birthplace of Jesus Christ. The theme, which was borrowed by club members after they heard the phrase elsewhere, was also used as the theme for the FFA float in this year’s Jemison Christmas parade, Mims said.

The banquet commenced with a formal FFA opening ceremony conducted by FFA officers.

Other event features included food catered by Southern Sweets, which is owned by one FFA member’s family, and a slideshow depicting FFA members, projects and competitions.

Accompanying the FFA affiliates at the banquet were Chilton County Schools Superintendent Tommy Glasscock, JHS Principal Diane Calloway, LeCroy Career Technical Center Director Dara Norman, Board of Education member Joe Mims and former teacher Betty Giles.

FFA thanks these attendees and all other supporters and donors.

Mims said the next “big” FFA event is scheduled for Feb. 3 and will feature a chili cook-off fundraiser open to the public.

For more information about FFA, please visit the Jemison FFA Facebook page.