Along with 8,611 chapters across the nation, the Powell-Shoshone FFA Chapter is celebrating National FFA Week Feb. 22-29.

Today, there are 700,170 members in FFA in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The local FFA chapter includes 72 members who embrace concepts taught in ag, build valuable skills through hands-on experiential learning and demonstrate their proficiency in competitions based on real-world agricultural skills.

The 2020 theme for National FFA Week is “Different Dreams, One Jacket” and shows the diversity of the organization. FFA is not just for students who want to be production farmers — FFA also welcomes members who aspire to careers as teachers, doctors, scientists, business owners and more.

To reflect the growing diversity and new opportunities in the industry of agriculture, the official name of the organization was updated to the National FFA Organization in 1988. The letters FFA stand for Future Farmers of America, and “these letters are a part of our history and our heritage that will never change,” the organization says.

FFA continues to help the next generation rise up to meet those challenges by helping its members to develop their own unique talents and explore their interests in a broad range of agricultural career pathways. So today, they are still the Future Farmers of America. But, they are also the Future Biologists, Future Chemists, Future Veterinarians, Future Engineers and Future Entrepreneurs of America.

FFA promotes premier leadership, personal growth and career success among its members.

The FFA motto — “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve” — gives direction and purpose to students who take an active role in succeeding in agricultural education. FFA also promotes citizenship, volunteerism, patriotism and cooperation.

The FFA vision is to provide the next generation of leaders who will change the world.