American FFA Degree

Select an Award Program:

Instruction & Eligibility

Eligbility Requirements
American Degree Handbook 2006-2011
- American Degree Handbook Divided by Sections

Introduction
Do You Qualify?
Earning the American Degree
Completing the American Degree Application
Income, Expense and Hours Summary of SAE (Pages 3 - 4)
Inventory Statement (Page 5 - 7)
Financial Balance Sheet (Page 9 - 11)
Leadership Activities (Page 12)
School and Community Activities (Page 12)
Glossary
Star Battery Divided by Sections
Star Candidates Introduction - Information on Set A or Set B
Detailed Explanation of Page 11
Additional Inventory
Skills, Competencies and Knowledge
Photographs
Attachments (Personal History, SAE Agreements, Resume)
Resume Examples
Tips From Judges

SAE Powerpoint Presentations
(for classroom use)
Excel Template Tips & Help
Frequently Asked Questions
Special Needs Form
Special Needs Policy

Applications (2006 - 2011)

2011 American Degree Application
Page 12 only of 2011 American Degree Application (Leadership and Community Service)
American Degree Application (Spanish)
American Degree Review Sheet
Star Battery Application

Scoring Rubrics

Star Farmer Rubric (Excel)
Star in Agribusiness Rubric (Excel)
Star in Agricultural Placement Rubric (Excel)
Star in Agriscience - Entrepreneurship Rubric (Excel)
Star in Agriscience - Placement Rubric (Excel)
Star in Agriscience - Research & Experimentation Placement Rubric (Excel)

2010 Award Listings

2010 American Degree Recipients

Program Contact

Email :americandegree@ffa.org
Phone:317-802-4255

What is the American FFA Degree?

The American FFA Degree is the highest honor that can be achieved as an FFA member. This final step in the FFA Degree system encourages students to grow, achieve, and establish themselves in an agricultural career. Attaining the American FFA Degree requires a solid commitment to agriculture and FFA.

Convention Information for Degree Recipients

Convention schedule, parking, photos and if you aren't able to attend.

Housing Form

Media Release

Scholarships

2011 American Degree Requirement Change

Effective 2011 application process:

A change in the American Degree requirements will be implemented with the 2011 application process. Start preparing now. The community service hours’ requirement has changed at the Chapter, State and National level.

Chapter FFA Degree the following requirement:
Have participated in at least 10 hours of community service activities. These hours are in addition to and cannot be duplicated as paid or unpaid SAE hours
State FFA Degree the following requirement:
Have participated in at least 25 hours within at least two different community service activities( NOTE: 15 more than Chapter Degree). These hours are in addition to and cannot be duplicated as paid or unpaid SAE hours
American FFA Degree the following requirements:
     - Have a record of outstanding leadership activities;
     - Have participated in at least 50 hours in at least three different community service
       activities (25 more than the State Degree). These hours are in addition to and
       cannot be duplicated as paid or unpaid SAE hours; and
     - Have achieved a high school scholastic record of “C” or better, as certified by the
       principal or superintendent.

These hours may be cumulative. Example:

10 hours required for Chapter Degree,
15 more hours are required for the State Degree
25 more hours are required for the American Degree, for a total of 50 hours.
These hours may NOT be duplicated for Directed Lab (unpaid hours).

2011 American Degree Application Updated

The American Degree application has been updated to include the increased community hours requirement on page 12.
For those who have already started the application on a previous version, you may download page 12 only to include with your application.
E-mail addresses are required for the American Degree application process for 2011. An e-mail address can be used only once per year. For example, if an advisor submits his or her e-mail address for one of his or her chapter's applicants, this e-mail cannot be used again for another applicant. The e-mail notification will not be sent by the online registration system. It will be sent by Rosalie Hunsinger or Deborah Sellers. All convention information regarding complimentary tickets, etc. will be sent to the e-mail address provided for the recipient. To avoid missing this important information make sure you have both rhunsinger@ffa.org and dsellers@ffa.org as allowed to send e-mail to your e-mail address.

We will be posting this information via Facebook and Twitter in order to reach the over 3,000 applicants from all states. If you have any questions please contact Rosalie Hunsinger, 317-802-4255 or rhunsinger@ffa.org.

Directed Lab/SAE Hours:
In reviewing applications for awards and degrees, applicants sometimes present a completely unrealistic number of hours dedicated to directed lab/SAE. In a single year, a person working a full time 40 hour per week job will work a total 2080 hours (52 weeks X 40 hours = 2,080). In order to assist students and teachers in evaluating students Directed Lab/Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) hours, it is important to consider the hours a student must also dedicate to school, sleep, etc. See the directed lab document for further information.

Star Awards

Outstanding FFA members at each degree level are selected as star award winners. National Level: Star applicants will be selected on the basis of the quality of the applications submitted for the American FFA Degree. Each state association is entitled to recommend one candidate for each of the four award areas: Star Farmer, Star in Agribusiness; Star in Agricultural Placement and Star in Agriscience. Note: You must apply for both the American Degree and a Star award the same year.

American Degree Application Due Date Change: June 15, 2010

American Degree Application Submission
Due to limited filing space, we ask you not put a cover on the American Degree application when submitting it to the national FFA center. A staple in the top left hand corner will suffice. Report covers and bindings take up more filing space then the single staple requested. (Exception: if you are applying for a Star award and this application is included with the Star Battery it is all right to put in a binder as these applications go through several hands in the judging process.)

American Degree Application Reference Assistance

The American Degree application at times seems very complex; to assist you, we have formatted a Microsoft Office Excel workbook for easy reference. Click on the links provided on the main page to either go to the whole application , or breakdowns by area. Also included in the workbook are “Common Questions” and a “glossary” of words in the American Degree handbook. Click here for the Application Reference document.

Applicant FAQs

What is a Rubric?
Rubrics are used by judges to score your application. Get a step ahead and score it yourself to see where you need to improve your application.

How can I ensure I am eligible?
Open or print the Eligiblity Requirements information. After completing your application, use the American Degree Review sheet to ensure all information, applications and signatures required for application submission has been completed.

WHOLE NUMBERS (New Feature)
Every cell that has a monetary value. To avoid corruption of calculations we have put a warning on every monetary value cell to only put WHOLE NUMBERS, no decimals. If a decimal point or accidental space is entered, the warning box will pop up.

Applications not showing a zero in the cells that hold numbers.
Due to the new calculation that only allows "Whole Numbers" to be entered, the zeros do not show up in the number cells. This is across the board and all applications will appear the same.

Contact

Questions? Contact: americandegree@ffa.org