Durant FFA had its annual chili dinner on Jan. 22 at the Clay Jones Community Center.
All proceeds will benefit the Durant FFA chapter to help its students fund their projects, travel to leadership conferences and to excel in competitive events.
The event included silent and live auctions.
Bailee Varner, a senior who is the FFA secretary, said the chili dinner is held at about the same time every year.
“It gets the FFA out and lets the members interact with the community,” Varner said. “On days like this, we can all appreciate a warm bowl of chili to warm up your soul. It gives our shop kids and those who have donated and are a big part of Durant FFA, it gives them a chance to get their businesses out and gives our shop kids a chance to get the projects that they’ve worked so hard on out and for people to bid on them.”
Varner said Durant FFA has been very busy during this school year with opening and closing ceremonies, the Bryan County Free Fair and the Southeast Area AFR Speech Contest.
She said a few students who plan to pursue a career in agriculture education went to Altus to teach for ag day.
“It’s where we kind of learned the more handson, almost the nitty gritty type stuff of being an ag teacher in Oklahoma,” Varner said. “We learned just how to teach people differently because not everybody has the same learning styles.”
She said that this semester, FFA will have its spring speech season.
“We’ll be gone pretty much almost every day, giving speeches just across Oklahoma and for spring break,” Varner said.
“We’ll have Oklahoma Youth Expo and then getting in towards May, we will have the state FFA convention where we will have several seniors getting their state FFA degree and then we’ll have our banquet and that will kind of wrap up our year.
Durant FFA also will be participating in the Bryan County Junior Livestock Show and Premium Sale in February.
Kayla Adams, Durant High School ag teacher, said the chili dinner is a staple in Durant FFA for years.
“I don’t even know how long it’s been going on,” Adams said. “I know my husband (Jeremiah) came in 2016 and he took it over and when I came on, it’s just been a staple and everybody in the community seems to look forward to it. We look forward to it for just showcasing our kids’ projects and just showing off our kids and their work ethic.”
Adams said the dinner is a great fundraiser and the money is used to sponsor FFA trips.
“When we do our competitions, it pays the entry fees for the kids, pays for several meals and anything.
“Like our chapter meetings, we try to supply food or drinks or something fun for them, so it does everything for our kids. It all goes back to the kids,” Adams said. Durant FFA has approximately 190 students, according to Adams.
“I just thank everybody that has blessed our chapter, and we can’t thank you enough for your support and come on out and get some chili before it gets chili,” she said, referencing the winter storm that was due to arrive the next day.
