COLUMBIA, MO -- The Missouri FFA announces Milan FFA placed 12th out of 327 chapters in the state, earning a Top Chapter Award at the 84th Missouri FFA Convention. Only 10 percent of state chapters receive a top chapter designation each year.

Chapter activity awards, sponsored by FCS Financial, are given to chapters achieving excellence in student, chapter and community development. The Milan FFA Chapter advisor is Jack Green.

Student development activities are individual and cooperative activities to enhance students' life-skills. Twenty-two junior and senior Milan FFA members served as role models and tutors to over 450 younger students. Students presented information on healthy-lifestyle topics at chapter meetings.  Scholarships were awarded to four students from each class by local businessmen at the chapter banquet.

Chapter development activities are designed to promote excellence within the chapter. Milan FFA members held an FFA worker auction, where members raised $4000 by voluntering to work eight hours of labor to the highest bidder. Other activities include distributing monthly newsletters to all members, parents, and school personnel.

As a community development project, Milan FFA volunteered for the town's 26th Annual Milan Old Timers Reunion. This three-day event brought back over 5000 former citizens to the community.  Members developed a school recycling program and fliers were distributed to encourage participation among the students and faculty.

The top chapters are submitted to the National FFA Organization where they compete for the National FFA Chapter Award. The competition will be this fall at the 85th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.

The Missouri FFA has 25,760 members representing 327 chapters. The national organization has more than 540,000 members representing 7,489 local chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.