GREENVILLE – The Greenville FFA Chapter celebrated its 95th anniversary with its new agricultural educator, Korey Garland.
Earlier this year, during the summer, Garland learned that the agricultural educator position was vacant and offered his assistance to the administration. Shortly after, Garland, a 2015 graduate of Greenville High School, assumed the role when it was presented to him.
“I was very active with the FFA Chapter once I graduated, being a part of the alumni,” said Garland. “I sat down with the Career Tech Director and had a meeting on how I could help until they found an advisor. Then later on, it was asked if it was something I’d be interested in.”
Garland explained that he had an interest in an agricultural educator position but thought that it’d be down the road upon more experience in his career and was ready to slow down.
Garland was involved in the Greenville FFA Chapter where he served as chapter president during his junior and senior years of high school. He currently resides in Greenville, Ohio with his wife Lauren, and his daughter Karter.
He attended Wright State University – Lake Campus where he graduated with a degree in agriculture in 2019. He has several years of experience in agriculture including ag sales, ag production, and ag technology.
“Now I’m taking all that knowledge that I have and putting it into a 45-minute lesson every day,” said Garland. “
He expressed that a goal of his is to continue being involved with the Greenville FFA Chapter Members and helping them achieve their goals and hopefully have members with state degrees and American degrees.
“We placed 10th at the district soil competition this year. The goal now is another one, another top ten. There’s a couple more competitions in the spring and I want to go to state.”
Garland shared that he currently has about 56 active members in the Greenville FFA Chapter.
There are currently many projects and events planned for the Greenville FFA Chapter.
Some members of his mechanical principles class are currently building two chicken coops, with eight nesting boxes that will be sold upon completion. Members also had the chance to make and sell freshies recently in their business management class.
There will be a degree ceremony held on December 12, 2024, with roughly 20 kids receiving degrees.
Garland hopes to become more involved with the community in his chapter. They plan on continuing the adopt a highway program and some other already completed service projects.
There will also be an upcoming event around February and it’ll be like an FFA Fair. Students will create posters and displays of their SAEs about what they do and help educate the public on those topics. It will be an open community event and everyone is welcome.
Garland remains enthusiastic and positive about the upcoming year and is excited to give back to the FFA Chapter that started his passion for ag.