Napavine FFA Chapter Fundraiser Is Finalist in Nationwide Competition

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Napavine High School’s FFA chapter is being honored at the 93rd National FFA Convention and Expo as a top-three finalist in the category of “building communities” for their FFA “Jazz Bingo Night” event last year.

David Rutherford, an Agriculture Instructor and the FFA Advisor at Napavine High School, said that the event was successful because of the number of community donations, the attendance and the performance of the Napavine Jazz band  — bringing the community together to play Bingo and support their local FFA chapter.

“We had a huge outpouring of donations from the community. We had a ton of prize baskets. We had a silent auction. Having all the jazz band there playing was great. That idea behind it was a low-cost family-friendly, fun night,” Rutherford said.

The “Jazz Bingo Night” event was held in the Napavine High School gymnasium in November of 2019 and about 125 people attended, Rutherford said.

In order to be honored, Napavine FFA had to have one of the top 10 activities out of 2,013 applicants, Rutherford said. This is a particular honor for the Napavine chapter because it has only been in existence for four years now, he said. There are about 8,000 FFA chapters across the country.

“Students get an understanding of agriculture and where their food comes from while learning all of those leadership skills,” said Rutherford. “Putting on an event like this — there’s just a ton of organization and planning that goes into it. It’s tough to teach that from a book.”

Lela Stewart was the 2019 chapter president and was in charge of planning the event that is being honored. She has since graduated from Napavine High School and has gone on to study at Centralia College.

The Napavine FFA Chapter had about 65 members last year but this year’s participation is lower because of distance learning. The group usually has at least one meeting a month and Rutherford said that the most impactful part of the program is the leadership roles students get to step into. The chapter recently elected its officers for this year — Victoria Rutherford was elected to serve as the next president. 



“It’s pretty incredible. There are networking opportunities for jobs and scholarships,” Rutherford said. His daughter was able to take advantage of the scholarship opportunities while she was involved in the FFA chapter. 

Napavine’s FFA chapter is open to seventh through twelfth grade and is led by six officers. Rutherford said the school is working on developing a middle school program as well.

Planning an event like the “Jazz Bingo Night” for the current year is challenging because of the COVID-19 restrictions but Rutherford hopes to hold some events around Christmas and later in the school year for the members to get together.

The 93rd National FFA Convention and Expo will be broadcast at www.FFA.org and on TV on RDFTV. Rutherford said the chapter has set up a backdrop at the high school to stand in front of during the Zoom event. Present and past FFA officers will meet up to watch the event together. 

The winner in the building communities category, of which Napavine is a finalist, will be announced live during the event at 4 p.m. on Wednesday — after The Chronicle’s print deadline. 

Napavine students that would like to get involved with their school’s FFA chapter, can talk to their school advisor, email David Rutherford at drutherford@napavineschools.org or visit their Facebook page — www.facebook.com/pages/category/Education/The-Napavine-FFA-696796053809959/.