COOKEVILLE, TN—Jordin Hockaday of the Bedford County Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter is Tennessee FFA’s 2015 Star in Agricultural Placement. The Star in Agricultural Placement is awarded to the top student who best demonstrates knowledge and skill through experiential, service and work-based learning opportunities. Her supervised agricultural experience (SAE) project is beef production.
Jordin has significant responsibilities on her family’s 200 acre beef cattle operation with roughly 60 head of cattle. She is an extremely active FFA member receiving state-level honors in Agricultural Mechanics, Farm Business Management and Meats Judging. She has also served as the Bedford County FFA Chapter President for the past three years. Jordin credits her speaking ability and confidence to the FFA.
Jordin is the daughter of J.J. and Laisha Hockaday. She plans to attend Middle Tennessee State University in the fall majoring in Animal Science with the hopes of starting her own beef operation and teaching agriculture in Shelbyville.
For her achievement, Jordin was honored last month during the weeklong Inaugural Tennessee FFA Star Tour presented by Farm Credit Mid-America. The trip was centered on Tennessee agriculture; students got a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit agribusinesses, meet key industry leaders and showcase their superior projects.
The tour began in Doyle at Camp Clements FFA Leadership Training Camp where Farm Credit Mid-America presented each of the Stars with $1,000 scholarships. The tour included a visit to the Cookeville office of Farm Credit Mid-America, dinner with the Commissioner of Agriculture and staff at Ellington Agricultural Center, and a breakfast program at First Farmers & Merchants Bank in Columbia. The Stars also visited Krone, Thompson Machinery and Tosh Farms in West Tennessee. The tour ended with a night of “Underwater Bowling” and celebration at the new Bass Pro Pyramid in Memphis.
Jordin was named the Tennessee FFA Star in Agricultural Placement in March at the Tennessee FFA State Convention in Gatlinburg. Having received her State FFA Degree, Jordin is now eligible to earn her American FFA Degree and represent Tennessee in the competition to become the American Star in Agricultural Placement. Likewise, Tennessee will have a Star Farmer, Star in Agribusiness and Star in Agriscience candidate.
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. Nationally, there are 610,240 FFA members, aged 12-21. The Tennessee FFA Association is comprised of more than 13,000 members from 214 high school chapters, seven middle school chapters, and eight collegiate chapters across the state of Tennessee.
Photo caption: As the Tennessee FFA Star in Agricultural Placement, Jordin Hockaday of the Bedford County FFA chapter got the chance to meet Commissioner of Agriculture Julius Johnson during the Inaugural Tennessee FFA Star Tour presented by Farm Credit Mid-America.