Rutland Middle School’s FFA club members have many reasons to be proud

I love kids. I’ve always loved kids of any age. Little kids, big kids, adult kids, it doesn’t matter. I enjoy being around kids because of their sincerity, their curiosity and their zest for life. But some kids just exceed awesome.

I had the honor of meeting an unbelievable group of kids who have absolutely blown me away with their ambition, drive, maturity and compassion for others. They are the incredible students from Rutland Middle School’s Future Farmers of America club.

Rutland Middle School is the first middle school in Bibb County to have an agriculture program. The Rutland Chapter built its program of activities from the FFA philosophy of “growing leaders, building communities, and strengthening agriculture,” and have they ever shown leadership already.

The FFA members recently participated in the State Dairy Show in Perry, where they showed cows they’ve been caring for. They’ve learned how much responsibility it is to care for an animal, especially one that will be shown and judged.

Showing a cow requires great skill, including learning how to properly groom her to get her ready for the state show. The students from Rutland Middle School developed these techniques through hours of preparation, study and practice.

In fact, they were so well prepared for the State Dairy Show that included FFAs and 4-H clubs from all around Georgia that Rutland’s dairy team placed in seven different classes, earning 10 ribbons. This is quite an accomplishment personally for these young people and for all of Bibb County. I am so proud of these students.

But that’s only half the story.

These wonderful students wanted to do more. They wanted to help an organization that helps animals and they knew of my non-profit animal welfare group, Central Georgia CARES. That’s how I got to meet them.

Barbara Hamrick, who is closely involved with the Rutland Middle FFA and has been a longtime friend of CARES for years, suggested to the students that they choose CARES as the recipient of their generosity. So these kind students collected donations of supplies for dogs and cats.

Imagine my surprise when I was invited down to the Ag Center in Perry to meet these students and I saw a trailer packed with more than $3,000 worth of high quality dog and cat items. It was so much more than I expected, but I’ve learned these determined, compassionate kids do things in a really big way.

I’ll share more next week about Rutland Middle School FFA students because they’re among some of the most impressive students I’ve met who are committed to make this world a better place. I’m so very thankful they generously shared their resources with CARES so we can help vulnerable animals and the people who love them.

This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Rutland Middle School’s FFA club members have many reasons to be proud."