Indiana FFA Foundation Executive Director Lisa Chaudion was recognized June 15 with a Distinguished Service Award at the 87th Indiana FFA State Convention. Chaudion was instrumental in bringing the Indiana FFA to Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. beginning next academic year.
Distinguished service honorees are selected by a student-run executive committee each year.
“When students think that highly of what you’re doing, it’s always a huge honor,” Chaudion said. “That’s why you do your job.”
She added that the recognition was especially meaningful to her because she is less visible to students.
“I often am not the one in front of them all the time,” she said. “I’m often the one behind the scenes making sure things are funded.”
Chaudion achieved the first step toward a Distinguished Service Award when she received her honorary degree from Indiana FFA in the late 1980s.
As part of the Indiana Department of Education for close to 18 years in the agriculture education sector, she worked closely with Indiana FFA. She was the first female state president when she served as president of the Indiana FFA board of directors from 1985 to 1986.
Chaudion’s son, Justin, spent two years petitioning fellow Edgewood Junior High School students to commit to taking agriculture classes at Edgewood High School if they were implemented.
The effort helped convince RBBCSC administrators to discuss starting an agriculture program.
“Administration is where that all has to start. You had an administration that had already gotten their feet wet with FFA,” Chaudion said, referring to RBBCSC Superintendent Mike Wilcox and EJHS Principal Rod Hite.
A $1.5 million grant from the Monroe County Redevelopment Commission in support of developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs at RBBCSC schools was also a factor.
“All that kind of falls right into what we teach in agriculture education,” Chaudion said.
As a result, Justin will be able to attend agriculture class, a requirement for an Indiana FFA scholarship, as a freshman at EHS next academic year.
“We’re just really excited and hope that people get behind it and the new teacher who’s starting this fall (Taylor Ferguson),” Chaudion said.
Indiana FFA gives students an opportunity to develop soft and technical skills that help prepare them for college and the agricultural job market. Some student participants graduate high school with a job as a result of skills learned in the program.
According to its website, Indiana FFA was established in 1929 “as a youth organization for farm boys, but has grown into an organization that has something to offer everyone.”
More than 11,000 students are members of Indiana FFA statewide, or about half of all those enrolled in agriculture classes.
Originally published in Ellettsville Journal, 2016. Republished here for archival and portfolio purposes.