Perceived Leadership Life Skills Developed Through Participation at the Arkansas FFA Leadership Conference: A Program Evaluation

Abstract

Each year, millions of people around the world are affected by natural disasters. Following these disasters, many students from colleges and universities arrive to support the affected areas. These seamless leadership learning opportunities engage students by allowing them to implement the concepts they learned in a classroom. Humanitarian relief requires leadership and logistics to mobilize essential resources to aid vulnerable groups affected by these disasters. This qualitative study evaluates two separate relief projects that were hands-on, weeklong service trips involving college students responding to two natural disasters in the United States of America. Using data collected from prompt-based journals, the researchers in this study sought to develop a deeper understanding of participant service experiences in relation to leadership education. Leadership education provides valuable reflection points for students and this manuscript outlines key themes from two unique service experiences. This project showcases these reflections and provides a potential qualitative assessment process for similar endeavors useful for both educators and researchers alike.

How Are Leadership Programs Empowering Our Vulnerable Children and Youth? A Scoping Review

“…The programs were implemented in different ways, some following specified strategies which included participatory action research (Aldana et al 2016;Bailey et al 2017;Forbes-Genade and van Niekerk 2017;McCalman et al 2009), photovoice (Aldana et al 2016), therapeutic media empowerment (Levy 2012), cognitive behaviour therapy (Mazurek Melnyk et al 2007), Glasser's reality therapy (Hindes et al 2008), Sarling Gawa's youth leadership development model (Luluquisen et al 2012), a trauma-informed strengths-based approach (Sisselman-Borgia 2021), the youth leadership life-skills approach (Ahrens et al 2015), the PICO model of community organizing (Christens and Dolan 2011), the pedagogical framework for youth media participation (Chan and Holosko 2020), the theory of service leadership (Stedman et al 2009)…”

“…The programs were implemented in different ways, some following specified strategies which included participatory action research (Aldana et al 2016;Bailey et al 2017;Forbes-Genade and van Niekerk 2017;McCalman et al 2009), photovoice (Aldana et al 2016), therapeutic media empowerment (Levy 2012), cognitive behaviour therapy (Mazurek Melnyk et al 2007), Glasser's reality therapy (Hindes et al 2008), Sarling Gawa's youth leadership development model (Luluquisen et al 2012), a trauma-informed strengths-based approach (Sisselman-Borgia 2021), the youth leadership life-skills approach (Ahrens et al 2015), the PICO model of community organizing (Christens and Dolan 2011), the pedagogical framework for youth media participation (Chan and Holosko 2020), the theory of service leadership (Stedman et al 2009), group work principles (Northington 2018), a conceptual framework of the directionality of effects (Conner and Strobel 2007), and Tuckman's group developmental stages (Dima and Bucuta 2020). Although a specific framework was not always reported, a number of programs used creative arts in their implementation (n = 7) (Bentz and Brien 2019;Chan and Holosko 2020;Cooke et al 2018;Harvey et al 2021;Larson et al 2005;Lobman 2017;Northington 2018;Shelton 2008;Shimshon-Santo 2018;Siddiq et al 2015).…”

Millenial and Non-millenial Agriculture Teachers' Current and Ideal Emphasis on the Three Components of the Agricultural Education Program

“…Alternately, they could value FFA to a lesser degree and instruction to a greater degree than younger teachers. While FFA involvement has been associated with various student benefits (Ahrens et al, 2015;Rose, Wingenbach & Kahler, 1997), the prominence of classroom and laboratory instruction as the foundation of the agricultural education program (Talbert et al, 2007) suggests all teachers should emphasize classroom and laboratory instruction at least as much as the other two components. We recommend future research focus on the value different generations of teachers place on each component of the agricultural education model.…”

“…With competitive award structures for both the individual student and the chapter, the FFA is an intracurricular organization that, as the three-component model suggests, motivates students to display their knowledge and skills developed in the classroom and through their SAEs. Student involvement in FFA activities has been linked to more enjoyable high school experiences (Rose, 2014), increased leadership skills (Wingenbach & Kahler, 1997), and increased life skills (Ahrens, Cox, Burris, & Dykes, 2015).…”

Mentoring Mentality: Understanding the Mentorship Experiences of National FFA Officers

“…Many reports have recognized the National FFA Organization, formally Future Farmers of America, for its efforts in developing leadership skills in its members (Ahrens et al, 2015;Robertson, 2019). The National FFA Organization provides "a path to achievement in premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education" for students (2019b, para.…”