Two East Knox FFA members earn prestigious American FFA Degree

Recently, at the 98th National FFA Convention held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, East Knox FFA members Ethan Phillis and Andrew Poff received the American FFA Degree. These two were among 5,162 American Degrees awarded nationally with 533 of those being from Ohio. The degrees are sponsored by Case IH, Cargill, John Deere, Elanco, Syngenta, and AGCO as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. Each recipient of the American FFA Degree received a gold American FFA Degree key, certificate and matted frame after being recognized on stage.

Requirements for the degree include earning at least $10,000 from SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) projects, productively investing at least $7,500, serving as an FFA officer or committee member, participating in FFA career development events, participating in FFA leadership activities, completing school and community activities, and having a satisfactory grade point average and school attendance. The American Degree is the fourth and final degree that can be attained in the FFA and normally goes to less than 1/2 percent of the national membership annually.

Ethan Phillis’ SAE projects included job placement at Mills’ Farms, welding and constructing horse treadmills, and completing home improvement projects. He served as the 2022-23 chapter vice president and was the 2021-22 chapter sentinel. Ethan competed in Poultry, Greenland Quiz, Parliamentary Procedure, and Agricultural Technology and Mechanics Career Development Events. He attended state and national FFA conventions, state leadership nights, and district officer training. Ethan is the son of Darren Phillis and Alicia Burwell of Bladensburg. 

Job placement at Apple Valley Marina as well as various home improvement projects were Andrew Poff’s Supervised Agricultural Experience projects. Poff competed in Agricultural Soils, Parliamentary Procedure, Forestry, Nursery/Landscape, Wildlife Management, Envirothon, Farm Business Management, and Agricultural Technology and Mechanics Career Development Events. He competed in Environmental/Natural Resources in the U.S. Eastern Regional (Big “E”) in Massachusetts in 2019 after finishing second in the State. He was a member of the fourth place State Agricultural Soils team that represented Ohio in the National Land Judging Contest in Oklahoma. He was also part of the first place State Nursery/Landscape team that represented Ohio in the National contest in 2021 in conjunction with the National Convention in Indianapolis. He also attended the state FFA convention, state OLLC, district officer training as well as state leadership nights and served as the 2021-2022 East Knox FFA Vice President. Andrew is the son of Richard and Sarah Poff of Howard. 

Phillis and Poff are the 54th and 55th American FFA Degree recipients from East Knox with the first being in 1991.