Courtesy photo
Brooke Carlson, left, and Arika Beard hold up their American FFA Degrees during the 96th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 1-4. With them is Lyndee Lum, ag advisor and agriculture education instructor at Berthoud High School.

By Shelley Widhalm
The Surveyor

Arika Beard is the first Berthoud Future Farmers of America member to complete the American FFA Degree, an honor she received at the fall 2023 convention.

“After COVID-19 hit, I didn’t think I’d complete this,” said Beard, 21, a 2020 Berthoud High School graduate. “My ag teacher (Lyndee Lum) helped me all the way through and has been a big role model all my life. I’m very happy and excited to say I got this degree. It gives me big sense of accomplishment I finished and went through this whole process.”

Beard received the highest degree a FFA member can earn during the 96th National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis, Ind., Nov. 1-4.
“It’s basically a massive convention with all 50 states, plus Rhode Island,” Beard said. “I got to go a couple of times in high school. It’s a prestigious thing to get to go.”

The American degree demonstrates members’ dedication to their chapter and state FFA association and their work in a supervised agricultural project, as well as their leadership skills and community involvement.

“It’s a pretty big deal,” Beard said. “I was very excited. You can only get the degree after you graduate from high school.”

Beard participated in FFA, a student-led organization, all four years of high school, earning her green hand, chapter and state degrees, followed by the American degree. Her agriculture project was in poultry production, where she bred and sold birds and eggs to her local community. She also had to operate and maintain records, which she then submitted prior to the convention for state, then national pass and approval.

“I had to upload my records, money and hours, then present or give a little blurb of what I learned,” Beard said about learning leadership skills and gaining knowledge about agriculture and business. “I feel like it’s important to have an outlet where I get to learn and have fun. I learned who I was through FFA. I got to meet a lot of lifelong friends.”

Less than 1% of FFA members earn the American degree. Beard earned her degree alongside Brooke Carlson, a member of the Thompson Valley FFA.
Berthoud FFA members used to belong to the Thompson Valley FFA until it separated into its own chapter two years ago. Beard was a member of the Thompson Valley FFA during her first two years of high school, then when Berthoud became its own chapter, she joined that one.

“The chapter was initially established a long time ago, but it got disbanded when there were no members,” Beard said. “It reestablished the existing chapter. It was all the same people.”

Beard is a senior at Texas A&M University in Kenyan, Texas, where she’s majoring in ag education.

“FFA gave me a home. It made me feel like I had a family,” Beard said. “I’m on the career path of an ag teacher. I want to give the same sense of home, family and accomplishment to other kids.”