CONGER — National FFA Week is a chance for the Alden-Conger FFA chapter to promote itself and educate people about agriculture.

With the way that the group has grown over the past couple years, they seem doing a pretty good job of self-promoting.

“This is our second straight year of big FFA growth in our chapter here,” Alden-Conger FFA adviser Pan Koenen said. “So we’re kind of excited about that.”

Koenen has been an FFA adviser since 1989 and has been with Alden-Conger since 1991. She was in FFA as a student during her senior year of high school.

FFA Week has been in existence since 1948. It runs the Saturday to Saturday during the week of George Washington’s birthday, Feb. 22.

According to FFA.org, National FFA Week is, “an opportunity for FFA members, alumni and sponsors to advocate for agricultural education and FFA. It’s a time to share with local, state and national audiences what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day.”

This week Alden-Conger has had a couple events for the week, including dressup days and a butter-sculpting session that is schedule for today. That event, of course, is depending on the weather.

“It’s an awareness and celebration of FFA across the country,” Koenen said. “It’s also to promote awareness in the school and kind of make us a little more visible and let kids that aren’t involved in FFA learn a little bit more about what activities and things that we’re involved in.”

Koenen said that some members would go to kindergarten classes and share agriculture-themed coloring books with the young students. Educating people about agriculture, an industry that is huge in the small town of Alden, is another big part of the week.

The FFA chapter will make a trip to the Minnesota State Capitol in March. The trip wasn’t possible during FFA week because of the session schedule. Koenen said that Alden-Conger usually takes a group up to the capital every other year.

The trip to St. Paul is an opportunity for the students to meet their representatives and get a firsthand look at government in action.

“It’s been a good experience in that past,” Koenen said. “To meet with our representative and senator and learn more about how the capital works. What the process for taking an idea and introducing it as a bill before it becomes a law.”

Koenen added that it was especially important for the seniors to understand what takes place in St. Paul because of the fact that they either are voting age or will be soon.

“It’s important for them to be comfortable approaching their elected officials and having a conversation with them, not necessarily asking for anything or wanting anything, but just to be able to sit down and explain some of their viewpoints,” she said. “A lot of times it’s more the kids getting asked questions by the elected officials because they really want to know what the students are involved in and they also want to know what their viewpoints are.”

Minnesota FFA has held FFA Day at the Capitol for the past 16 years. Koenen said that the group also tries to sit in on a committee meeting when they are up at the Capitol.

“We’ve definitely sat in on the agriculture committee hearings a couple of times,” she said. “And also education hearings.”