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女性力量:庆祝FFA女性成立50周年

发布于2019年5月23日12:00 AM

詹妮弗·惠特克

今天有这么多女性参与FFA/ag教育, 人们很容易忘记，情况并非总是如此. 10月.  15, 1969, 在第42届全国农协年会上，代表们投票决定所有职业农业班的学生都可以成为农协十大靠谱网赌官方平台. Before that, girls couldn’t wear FFA’s iconic blue corduroy jacket.

在四月份的年度大会上, 乔治亚州FFA在庆祝即将到来的50周年之际，表彰了一些在FFA为自己的性别打开大门的女士. 访问 www.gfb.照片/ FFAwomen 去见他们.

原来的样子

In 1930, 在FFA成立两年后, members voted that membership was only for male students. 在1935年全国代表大会上, 马萨诸塞州FFA成员阿尔弗雷德·沃恩(Alfred Vaughan)提出了允许女孩加入的想法，但没有成功.

Before 1969, state and local chapters allowed female participation at varying levels. Some girls took ag ed classes but couldn’t become FFA members. 一些FFA分会允许女孩加入，但在十大靠谱网赌官方平台名册上列出了她们的首字母而不是名字，以隐藏性别.

1949年至1969年, National FFA encouraged local chapters to select young ladies to serve as Chapter Sweethearts. Girls chosen for this honor received a white jacket to wear.

卡特里娜·齐克·麦金托什, a retired teacher in the Colquitt County School System and wife of Moultrie Mayor 比尔 McIntosh, 深情地记得在1963-64学年担任巴特勒高中FFA章节甜心. 对她来说，这是忙碌的一年，因为她还担任美国未来商业领袖协会的州主席.

“It was a special thing to be selected by my peers to represent the FFA students,” McIntosh said. “I had a lot of knowledge of parliamentary procedure from Future Business Leaders of America, 我帮助了FFA的官员. I welcomed guests to their meetings and helped the members learn manners. They were very receptive to my help because they wanted to put their best foot forward.”

麦金托什还担任分会会议的女主人，并在母亲的帮助下提供茶点.

麦金托什毕业于佐治亚大学，获得言语交际和修辞学学位. 而她的丈夫, 比尔, 就读于佐治亚大学法学院, 她在佐治亚大学教了三年演讲课. After they moved to Moultrie, 比尔’s hometown, she taught fifth grade until retiring.

McIntosh still admires the leadership and public speaking skills FFA teaches its members. That’s why she supports local FFA projects and works with students.

时代在变

The 1960s was a time of empowerment for women across the U.S.， FFA注意到了这一点. 在1964年全国代表大会上, 康涅狄格州的代表, 保罗•米勒, 建议向妇女开放成员资格. 他的修正案失败了.

In January of 1966, a committee was formed to review membership. 8月, 全国FFA董事会根据委员会的工作提议修改宪法，将“男性”一词从宪法中删除.

By 1967, 大约3,300 females nationwide were taking ag classes and more states accepted women as FFA members. 在1967年和1968年的全国代表大会上，代表们否决了向女孩开放FFA十大靠谱网赌官方平台资格的修正案，直到1969年才允许女性十大靠谱网赌官方平台.

杰克Spruill, 在1969年到1970年间担任乔治亚州FFA官员的人, 他还记得当他面试州政府官员时，有人问他对让女孩成为FFA成员有什么看法.

“我知道我回答说我对此没有意见. 采访是闭门进行的, but I have to think anyone who answered negatively didn’t make it onto the state officer team,斯普里尔说.

作为一名国家官员, Spruill参加了乔治亚州的FFA分会活动，在那里他注意到参加FFA的年轻女士是沉默的成员.

“在我的学校(富尔顿县的米尔顿高中)有很多年轻的女士通过4-H展示牛和猪, but we didn’t have an FFA Chapter Sweetheart or girls at our meetings,斯普里尔说. “我从参加全州各地的FFA活动中了解到，老师们对他们的课程的管理方式不同.”

Spruill, 他现在在乔治亚州农业部工作, also remembers attending the 1969 national convention when the historic vote was cast.

“I think at that point there were lots of different attitudes. As students we were more shocked than not that it was the way it was,斯普里尔说. “I don’t think we had a clue at the time how much our organization was changing history that day. 我没有预见到大会为我未来的女儿和孙女们打开了一扇门.”

Coincidentally, Spruill’s future wife, whom he didn’t know at the time, joined FFA a year later. 1970年秋，艾达·皮尔克尔·斯普里尔在杰佛逊城高中的最后一年成为了FFA成员.

艾达回忆起阿尔伯特·洛根, 她学校的农业教师/FFA顾问, 招募她和其他活跃的女孩参加园艺课程，并加入FFA.

“我们非常受欢迎，”艾达回忆道.  “他们真的是好人. 他们很喜欢我们在那里.”

杰克和艾达有三个孩子——罗伯特, Carol and Abby - all of whom joined FFA and experienced success in the program. 稍后你会读到更多关于罗伯特和卡罗尔的故事. 艾比曾在派克县中学和奥科尼县高中任教，并担任过FFA顾问. 

走进教室

After girls were allowed to join FFA, it was only natural they would want to become ag teachers. The 201 women teaching agriculture in Georgia today have ladies like Connie Collier, Cindy Williams Greene and Lynne Cook to thank for leading the way.

Collier在2012年退休之前，曾在巴托县卡斯高中担任FFA顾问/农业教师33年. 1972年，她开始在南阿拉巴马州教书，成为第一位在东南部教书的女性.

“The younger guys that I came up with at Auburn were all really good to me.  他们没有表现出怨恨, but when I started teaching it was hard for a lot of the older male ag teachers,科利尔回忆道.

After teaching at several Alabama schools for seven years, Collier moved to Cartersville in 1979.

“当我开始在卡斯商学院工作时，这是一个完全不同的世界. It was a much better environment to teach in,” Collier said. “后来, 当它不是那么困难的时候, I think girls saw females in the field of ag education and it encouraged them.”

格林在20世纪70年代早期活跃于道奇县高中FFA，是该分会第一个当选官员的女孩. 她得了B.S. 1979年，她开始在图姆斯县任教，1980年至1994年在道奇县任教.  She became a Georgia Agriculture Education (GAE) area horticulture teacher in 1997. In 2001 she was promoted to GAE Central Region Coordinator, 她一直担任这个职位直到2010年退休.

“在我职业生涯的早期，没有其他女教师，我的同事们总是平等地对待我，让我感到受欢迎, 格林说.

Cook has been teaching ag ed and advising FFA students at Tift County High since 1988. Having been an FFA member for three years in high school, 当库克意识到上帝并不打算让她成为一名兽医后，她被鼓励从事农业教育事业.

“FFA是一个学生转型项目. 看到学生们从害羞到成为全国冠军，并拥有自己的企业，真是太神奇了,库克说。. “这并不是因为我是个好老师. 这个项目本身就是建立在成功的传统之上的.”

在她31年的职业生涯中, Cook has taught 14 state FFA officers and inspired 15 students to become ag ed teachers.

杰基·塞万提斯是库克以前的学生之一. In 2013, Cervantes became the first Hispanic female to become a Georgia FFA officer. Today she teaches ag at Indian Creek Middle School in Covington. 塞万提斯在FFA上取得了很大的成功, she says the organization also taught her how to deal with setbacks.

“我将永远感谢我的老师. Nichols for not giving up on me after I quit the livestock judging team. Instead, he pushed me to do the parliamentary procedure event,塞万提斯说.

现在, 塞万提斯正在帮助她的FFA学生找到适合他们的比赛项目，发挥他们的优势，也许决定他们的职业道路.

“看到学生们发现自己，发现他们擅长什么，是我在教学中最喜欢的部分,塞万提斯说.

她正在努力将没有农业背景的学生与他们可以在课堂上学到的动手活动联系起来，比如焊接, 力学, 园林绿化和温室作业.

"I love that the students can gain speaking skills through FFA, 但我真的希望他们了解职业发展活动和受监督的农业体验项目，这些项目可以为他们的职业生涯做好准备."

点燃世界

In 1978, Georgia FFA elected its first female state officer - Jennifer Kelly of Floyd County. 从那时起，有156名女性担任了国家官员. Georgia FFA elected its first female president – Priscilla Weldon of Jackson County – in 1990.

林恩·雷斯，富兰克林县FFA，是1984年赢得州拖拉机驾驶比赛的第一位女孩. Kay Farmer, Oglethorpe County FFA, was the first girl to earn the state Star Farmer award in 1991.

1997年，希拉里·史密斯·斯特林费罗当选为全国FFA主席，成为格鲁吉亚第一位担任国家官员的女性. A member of the Perry High FFA chapter, Stringfellow served as a state officer from 1995-1996. She was drawn to FFA because her grandparents farmed and her dad and cousins had been members.

斯特林费罗说，她担任全国总统期间的亮点是1998年全国自由贸易协会中心从弗吉尼亚州搬到印第安纳波利斯，并主持了1998年在堪萨斯城举行的最后一次全国代表大会.

不伦瑞克的律师, 斯特林费罗认为FFA教会了她公开演讲的技巧，这对她今天的职业生涯有很大帮助.

“Every FFA member today has the opportunity to become anything they want to be,” Stringfellow said.

Carol Spruill Lawrence在1997年成为第一位也是唯一一位赢得乔治亚州EMC-FFA电气州布线比赛的女性，创造了乔治亚州FFA的历史. 她说进入学校很正常，因为她爸爸, 杰克Spruill, 1968年赢得州赛冠军, 还有她的哥哥, 罗伯特。, 1996年夺冠.

劳伦斯于1997年成为第二位当选为格鲁吉亚FFA主席的女性，并于1999年成为格鲁吉亚第二位当选为国家FFA官员的女孩.

Today, Lawrence runs Steadfast Farm, the horse stable she started as her FFA proficiency project. Her husband, Shannon Lawrence, is an ag teacher/FFA adviser at Jackson County High School. They are raising four children to continue the family’s FFA legacy. Their daughter, Emma, attended her first state FFA convention in April.

“I’ve been blessed to see FFA from several different sides. 我作为一名军官在舞台上度过的时光令人难以置信，但我作为一名教师的配偶度过的时光也是如此,劳伦斯说. “The time I’ve spent as an FFA mother has been my favorite. 通过我孩子的眼睛看到FFA真是太棒了.”

除了斯特林费罗和劳伦斯, other Georgia females elected as national officers are: Rachael McCall Becker in 2004, 2008年的Regina Holliday Fitzpatrick, 2012年的Kalie Hall Blevins和2015年的Abbey Gretsch.