Tracy Area FFA has been named a 3-Star chapter every year since 2021, which is the highest rank a chapter can receive, and was awarded the honor again at the 2025 National Convention in Indianapolis in early November. The poultry team, who took first at the state convention last April, also earned a silver rank at Nationals.

“It’s very rewarding. The kids have to want it, you can’t want it for them, so it’s fun just to see the determination come through our chapter,” Tracy Area FFA Advisor Elizabeth Rupp said. “Our senior leaders that are officers, they really kind of say like, ‘This is what’s expected, and this is how we perform.’ So, there’s a lot of energy within our chapter to do well. It’s just so rewarding.”

Rupp also works alongside assistant FFA advisor Jenna Buyck.

The 98th annual National Convention took place Oct. 29 through Nov. 1, where over 1,000 Minnesota FFA members attended the record year of over 73,000 attendees with chapters from each state, according to the Minnesota FFA Association.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Rupp: Pictured is the Tracy Area FFA Chapter, which was ranked a 3-Star chapter at Nationals in November. 3 Stars is the highest rank a chapter can receive.

Tracy Area FFA has also been a top-10 chapter in the state since 2021.

“Our chapter fills out an application called the National Chapter Award, and this is based on 15 different activities that we do as a chapter. So, they all have to fit within different categories,” Rupp said of the process applying for a national rank. “First, you have to apply to the state and we did that back in April and we were ranked the eighth chapter in the state … We had to place a gold ranking (on the application) at state, in order for that to get sent to Nationals.”

There are three main categories under the National Chapter Award, Rupp detailed, that chapters work on throughout the year with participating in or hosting several activities to fulfill their application. Categories are Growing Leaders, Building Communities and Strengthening Agriculture.

“Growing Leaders is all about growing the FFA member as a leader. This would be like taking kids to leadership camps, promoting healthy lifestyles, promoting scholarships and doing well in school. Then, personal growth like self awareness, how to be a better person, a positive leader in the chapter, and then the last one is a career success,” Rupp said. “We have to have an activity that fits within all of those. Some of the things that we do as a chapter, we have a junior and senior officer retreat to figure out what we’re going to do as a chapter.”

Specifically, Rupp mentioned the chapter will participate in summer agricultural tours to expose students to different agriculture careers.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Rupp: Tracy Area FFA members prepare 250 sack lunches for farmers during harvest to provide to local farmers.

“We (also) have between 30 to 40 FFA members fill out a proficiency, which is basically like a fancy record book talking about their ag-related job,” Rupp said. “We’ve had some major success within our chapter. Like last year, we had six or seven kids in the top-3 in the state on their proficiencies and records.”

The Building Communities portion of the application encourages members to be heavily involved and benefit their community.

“We help the Lions (Club) on the Help Tuck Them In (initiative), where they build beds and help donate them. We’ve helped with sanding and staining, and then we’ve made some name plates, and we’ve also donated blankets to them,” Rupp said. “We do fire and ambulance meals, where we give appreciation meals to all of our fire and ambulance departments within our community.”

The Strengthening Agriculture portion is about working together to represent and promote the agricultural community and opportunities. Rupp pointed out an example is that Tracy Area FFA will partner with Midwest Bank in Tracy for a fall carnival each year, or teaching farm safety to youth.

Rupp said the chapter is currently in the process of filling out their new application again for the coming year.

Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Rupp: The Tracy Area FFA Poultry team earned silver at the National FFA Convention in November. The team consists of (left to right) FFA Advisor Elizabeth Rupp, Nolan Carlson, Taylor Squires, Connor Lanoue, Elijah Lightfoot and coach John Lanoue.

“We have about 115 active FFA members that participate in at least one FFA event throughout the year, so we have a huge group of kids that are very determined to work hard and show up,” Rupp said. “(Our) Career Development Event success (is big, too), which is like all the judging teams that kids do. Like last year, we had like 57 kids in our chapter qualify for the state convention in some way in the cities, and I think we’ll probably be on track to have about that many students again this year.”

The state convention takes place in April between the Minnesota State Fairgrounds and University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus.

The Tracy Area FFA poultry team also earned silver at Nationals, after taking first place at state. The national poultry team consists of Elijah Lightfoot, Taylor Squires, Nolan Carlson and Connor Lanoue.

Lightfoot, Squires and Carlson also placed silver individually, as did Lanoue with bronze.

After the poultry team won first place at state to earn their spot in the national competition, Lightfoot told the Independent last May that all the hours and work the team puts in throughout the year “Feels worth all the practice.”

The Tracy Area FFA chapter is currently preparing for the upcoming state convention this spring, and has hopes to continue its ongoing success across the board.

“Our chapter wouldn’t be what it is without our coaches. We have a lot of volunteer coaches … We’ve really worked hard to find coaches that volunteer their time to come in and coach the kids,” Rupp said, also noting there are a handful of parents that volunteer as coaches. “The coaches are in it just as much as the kids. Our chapter would not be what it is without the community support, the admin support and the school support.”