SLS 17RS-740 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 46
BY SENATOR THOMPSON
COMMENDATIONS. Recognizes the 100
th
anniversary of the Smith-Hughes National
Vocational Education Act, designates April 27, 2017, as FFA Day at the Louisiana State
Capitol, and commends the state officers of the Louisiana FFA Association.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To recognize the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education
3 Act, to designate April 27, 2017, as FFA Day at the Louisiana State Capitol, and to
4 commend the state officers of the Louisiana FFA Association.
5 WHEREAS, in 1917, Congress passed the Smith-Hughes National Vocational
6 Education Act to appropriate federal dollars to states for the purpose of funding teachers,
7 supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects as well as trade, home economics, and
8 industrial subjects in high schools across the United States and has funded programs created
9 pursuant to the Act since; and
10 WHEREAS, in the early 1920s, student interest generated by the addition of these
11 classes prompted the first state organization of future farmers, and in 1928, thirty-three
12 students from eighteen different states convened to form Future Farmers of America (FFA),
13 known today as the National FFA Organization; and
14 WHEREAS, the goal of FFA, as conceptualized in their mission statement, is to
15 make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier
16 leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education; and
17 WHEREAS, the FFA motto, "Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live,
18 Living to Serve" gives members words to live by as they experience the opportunities of the
Page 1 of 2 SR NO. 46
SLS 17RS-740 ORIGINAL
1 organization; and
2 WHEREAS, the national FFA organization consists of more than six hundred
3 thousand members in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; and
4 WHEREAS, the Louisiana membership of the FFA organization continues to be
5 strongly represented by agricultural students in approximately one hundred ninety-five
6 chapters throughout the state with over ten thousand members; and
7 WHEREAS, the members of the Louisiana Senate recognize the importance of
8 agriculture to the economy of this state, as well as the importance of the education and
9 training students receive through agricultural education programs that develop competent
10 and assertive agricultural leadership.
11 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
12 does hereby recognize the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Hughes National Vocational
13 Education Act and designates April 27, 2017, as FFA Day at the Louisiana State Capitol.
14 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana also
15 recognizes and commends the 2016-2017 state FFA officers as follows: Gabe Patterson,
16 president; Layni LeBlanc, secretary; Bryce Franklin, vice president; Bayli Quick, vice
17 president; Gabrielle Gobert, vice president; Charlotte Streat, vice president; Ashlee Sebren,
18 treasurer; Holly Kay, reporter; Zac Little, sentinel; and Benjamin Hoover, parliamentarian.
19 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
20 Gabe Patterson, state president of the Louisiana FFA Association.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Dawn Romero Watson.
DIGEST
SR 46 Original 2017 Regular Session Thompson
Recognizes the 100th anniversary of the Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act,
designates April 27, 2017, as FFA Day at the Louisiana State Capitol, and commends the
state officers of the Louisiana FFA Association.
Page 2 of 2