West Holmes High FFA goes all out for All-In Week

The annual All-in Week was an all-out effort from West Holmes High School FFA members.

According to Jamie Chenevey, the group had worked two months on preparing for the All-In Week festivities.

It is a monumental undertaking that requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work, but the FFA is well known for its willingness to dive in, divvy up the tasks and get things done.

This year was no different, as they put together a week full of activities.

The first task is to choose a speaker for the week. This year that keynote speaker who came to WHHS on Monday, Nov. 13 was inspirational speaker Hunter Pinke, a star athlete in high school and college who was paralyzed from the chest down following a horrific skiing accident.

Pinke’s message was simple: There are no bad days if you don’t allow them to push into your life.

Pinke talked about how everybody struggles throughout their daily lives, and a kind word or action might be exactly what that person needs to find joy, overcome anxiety or lift their spirits.

“He didn’t say we wouldn’t have tough days and experience challenges. He talked about how we need to focus on what we do have and help fill in other people’s cups drop by drop,” Chenevey said.

Each of the other days of the All-In Week had a theme, and this year the FFA partnered with the Ohio State Holmes County Extension Office and Ohio Farm Bureau to create Life Skills Days on Wednesday and Thursday, sandwiched around Career Day and Self Day.

Career Day featured more than 60 local people talking about a variety of career options while the two days in the Life Skills event were focused on bringing in area adults to talk about their roles in the community and developing some of the everyday skills that often go untaught to teens today.

Friday offered 35 presenters who talked about some hobbies and self-care projects the students could pursue easily.

In bringing in all of those local people, it takes a great deal of effort to make contacts and invite them to speak. That task fell on the shoulders of each of the FFA members.

“That role is completed by our junior and senior FFA members,” Chenevey said. “That is their responsibility. We have a spread sheet we generate, and it begins about two months prior to the week.”

The FFA members also help usher each of the speaking individuals to their respective rooms throughout the school, and every member of the high school is given the opportunity to sign up for two of the sessions, one in each day.

“It’s great for my FFA kids from the point of organization and leadership,” Chenevey said. “And the exposure and opportunity to learn more about what is going on in our community and possible employment in the future is always a plus. This gives our students a great look into their future and the importance of building relationships.”

Kayla Jones, Ohio/Holmes County Farm Bureau, serves as its organization director for Coshocton, Holmes, Knox and Licking counties.

She said teaming up with the WHHS FFA for the event was a great way to dispense a lot of knowledge in a short amount of time, and teaming up with the three organizations made the event more valuable.

“When you have one organization putting something together, it can be a lot of work, but with three groups working together, it spreads out the burden because we have people working together for the same cause. We are happy to be part of the party,” Jones said.

She said Holmes County has a special community filled with people who enjoy reaching out to help others, especially the younger generation.

She said seeing so many individuals and businesses eager to jump on board and participate in the week is inspiring and shows the students the value of community service.

“You just don’t see it to this capacity in a lot of other counties,” Jones said. “We consistently see it in Holmes County. We still have that small-town feel where everyone pitches in.”

With the ranging benefits of All-In Week, it again proved to be an experience that was great for the community and the school in many ways.

Chenevey said the event coming together is a credit to all of the FFA members who worked hard to make it happen.