Waitsburg FFA member receives top award

WAITSBURG-Tom House set a goal in his freshman year of high school; he wanted to earn every FFA degree available. After five years of diligent record keeping, showing hogs at the local fairs, and a hefty amount of volunteering, House has earned the American FFA Degree; an honor awarded to less than 1% of FFA members.

"Once I earned my Greenhand Degree my freshman year, I wanted to go all the way through to my American. It was kind of a personal challenge," House said. "I'm the first in my family to receive my American Degree."

The American FFA Degree has some very rigid requirements, and takes years to earn. Think Master's Degree, for comparison. In order to qualify, members must first earn their State Degree, be active members of their FFA Chapter for at least 36 consecutive months, and complete at least 540 hours of agriculture education. Members have to have records that show their project has earned $10,000, and that they have invested at least $7,500. Members must maintain at least a 'C' grade average in their education, and complete at least 50 hours of documented community service... amongst other qualifications. Tom's focus in FFA was a Swine Career Development Event (CDE).

Tom began showing hogs over a decade ago in 4-H, which, over the years, evolved into his FFA Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) that earned him his degree. He purchased his first hogs from Jerry Hall, of Dayton, and has since purchased hogs from various breeders, showing and selling them at local fairs.

House explained that the process of raising hogs started before they even purchased the pigs. He said that he would spread lime around the pens to kill off any parasites and parasitic eggs, as a preventive measure.

"Pigs root around in the dirt and eat things off of the ground, and because of that, they can be susceptible to parasites," House explained.

He spent a lot of time getting his show pigs used to his presence once they arrived at the barn, and trained them to respond to a show stick, eventually having them comfortable enough to walk around the parking area of the FFA pig barn near the fairgrounds, guided only by light taps from a PVC pipe show stick. House was a part of some key repairs at the FFA barn, including helping fix the watering system for the pigs' drinking water.

"The pigs took a lot of work to get ready to show," House said. "They are about 30 pounds when you get them, so they're pretty scared of you at first. They grow quickly, and they get used to you quickly, but it's still an important part of the process."

While raising hogs was a key part of House's degree, he was also very active in other areas of the organization. House got involved in leadership positions early, and served as the sentinel, treasurer, and president of the Waitsburg chapter over his years in the organization. He also had an interest in the Food Sciences CDE. The Food Sciences CDE teaches participants about food product production, presentation, and safety. He was a part of a team that placed 6th at the State level.

House had little to no trouble reaching his 50 hours of required community service. He was a part of multiple projects, but his most memorable was the annual Festival of Trees. Each winter, Waitsburg FFA lines downtown Waitsburg with Christmas trees, and local businesses decorate them. The trees are judged during the Hometown Christmas celebration the first weekend of December. The Festival of Trees has been going for almost a decade, and gets bigger each year. House was a part of the set up, and tear down, as well as organizing the voting booth.

Part of the American FFA Degree qualifications require that an applicant have graduated 12 months prior to the National Convention where they intend to receive the award. This means that an applicant must remain an active member of their chapter for a year after graduation. House had no trouble achieving this.

"My little brother, Seamus, became a chapter officer, and I was always around helping him with events and projects around the chapter," House said. He volunteered for everything from Waitsburg Junior Livestock Show set up to helping prepare members for the Walla Walla Fair.

While meeting all the qualifications for his American FFA Degree was time consuming, it was the fun part. The actual application for the degree was very rigorous. House said he took all the help he could get, because the process was so in depth.

"I got a lot of help from my advisor, Mrs. Abel. I also received a lot of help from Melanie Morgan. Melanie had recently received her degree, so she was very familiar with the program that the FFA uses. There's a lot to it, and it is easy to miss something little," House explained. The National FFA uses the Agriculture Experience Tracker, or AET, program for all the record keeping. "It was nice, because my previous record were easy to access and use."

The complete application goes to the State level first, where the state leaders screen the application before it is sent off to the National level. House said that the state leaders found some financial information that was incomplete, and they originally sent it back to him. This provided him the chance to review that application with Nicole Abel, and fix the errors. Once it was amended, the application went on to the National level, where the judges found it satisfactory. The application process took over a year in itself.

House currently attends Walla Walla Community College, where he is enrolled in the Electrical Technology program. His goal is to earn an internship at Walla Walla Electric, and become a journeyman electrician.