Shelley FFA awards more than $6,000 in scholarships

SHELLEY — Students in the Future Farmers of America Shelley Chapter received more than $6,000 in scholarships this year and created a new scholarship in honor of a beloved teacher.

Each year the Shelley FFA awards scholarships to students in the program. This year, 12 students received scholarships.

“One of the big things for the FFA Alumni is that we award any student who receives their state FFA degree — which is a big deal, they don’t come easily — a $500 scholarship,” Shelley FFA Alumni board member Karen Eldredge said.

Five students received their state FFA degrees this year. Those students are:

• Peyton Stoddard
• Taylor Cannon
• Kaleb Stalworthy
• Collin Kelley
• Preston Anderson

Eldredge explained that for a student to receive their state FFA degree they need to have been an active FFA for at least three years.

“In that time you have to complete three or four years worth of SAEs, Supervised Agricultural Experiences,” Eldredge said.

She said that while FFA does stand for Future Farmers of America, the program involves much more than farming. She explained that is reflected in the SAEs

“It can be anywhere from taking care of a group of cows, if you have a lawnmowing business, if you work in a restaurant. That’s all agriculture, that’s all food, that’s all stuff that has to do with agriculture,” Eldredge said.

Students compete at local and state levels with their SAEs. Kaleb Stalworthy was district champion in his SAE and went on to compete at state.

FFA students also compete in a variety of other areas such as interviewing and public speaking. 

“It’s not just cows and plows. FFA is life learning skills,” Eldredge said.

On top of the state FFA degree scholarships awarded by the FFA alumni, students received a number of other scholarships.

Collin Kelley received a $1,000 AG Parts Scholarship. Taylor Cannon received the $500 Jessica Harrison Scholarship and Kaleb Stolworthy received the $1,000 David Stolworthy Scholarship.

Eldredge noted that there is a family relation between Kaleb and the originators of the David Stolworthy Scholarship, however, that familial relation had no bearing on the decision to award Kaleb the scholarship.

“It was well deserved,” Eldredge said.

Other students were awarded Career Development Events and Pathways scholarships. Those students are:

• Addie Christensen
• Andrea Berg
• Jace Hanson
• Ryker Soto
• Justin Stolworthy
• TenLee Staples
• Marissa Mathews
• Orin Hill

Now that the school year is wrapping up, the Shelley FFA Alumni board is working to raise enough funds so that the newly created Zebbie Miller Scholarship can be awarded next year.

Zebbie Miller was a vocational and agriculture teacher at Shelley High School for 33 years. He retired in 2005 and passed away in March of this year.

“He had a big impact on Shelley and a lot of kids,” Eldredge said.

According to his obituary, he was president of the Idaho Agricultural Teachers Association, and received multiple honors and awards on both state and national levels, including a national teaching award, and was a two-time recipient of Shelley School District Teacher of the Year.

“We are raising funds to provide for that scholarship. We’ve had great support and donations. We do need more. Our goal is $10,000. That would give us 10 years,” Eldredge said.

Eldredge said she and the other Shelley FFA Alumni board members are looking forward to next school year and hope more students will sign up for FFA.