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Home ›Little Switzerland FFA Chapter member Alaina Gebel to receive American FFA Degree at National FFA Convention this Saturday

Alaina Gebel ...
Each year, the National FFA Organization honors FFA members who show the utmost dedication to the organization through their desire to develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education.
The American FFA Degree is bestowed upon a select group of students in recognition of their years of academic and professional excellence. This year over 4,800 American Degrees were awarded, with less than one percent of more than a million FFA members throughout the United States ever achieving the American FFA Degree.
Alaina Gebel, a member of the Little Switzerland FFA Chapter at Waukon High School, will be awarded the American FFA Degree at the 97th National FFA Convention & Expo being held this week, October 23-26, in Indianapolis, IN. She will be receiving the award this Saturday, October 26 during the annual American Degree Ceremony that is part of the National Convention. After being recognized at the National Convention, each recipient of the American FFA Degree receives a gold American FFA Degree key and certificate.
Gebel is a 2023 graduate of Waukon High School and currently a sophomore at Iowa State University in Ames studying Agricultural and Life Sciences Education. She is the daughter of Nate and Tami Gebel of rural Lansing, and she becomes the 19th Little Switzerland FFA Chapter member to receive the FFA Degree.
Sponsored by Cargill, Case IH, John Deere, and Syngenta, the award recognizes demonstrated ability and outstanding achievements in agricultural business, production, processing, or service programs.
To be eligible, FFA members must have earned at least $10,000 or earned at least $2,000 and worked at least 2,250 hours outside of class time through a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program in which they own their own business, hold a professional position as an employee, or conduct research. Recipients must also complete 50 hours of community service and demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities and civic involvement through the completion of a long list of FFA and community activities.
In earning her American FFA Degree, Gebel recorded 87.5 hours of community service throughout her time in high school in a variety of activities. She volunteered as Student Director of the Waukon Middle School play, played piano at Zion United Church of Christ, was a mentor with Bacon Buddies at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and assisted with various events at the Allamakee County Fair.
She also completed five supervised agricultural experiences (SAEs) throughout her time in high school, including accumulating 2,165 unpaid hours working on her family’s farm where she assisted her father in raising the family’s Dorset sheep flock and caring for their family farm hay crop. A second SAE included experience working as a Day-1 caretaker at Weymiller’s Cyclone One hog farrowing unit near Lansing, where she cleaned out sow crates, bred gilts, sleeved pigs, transferred piglets to other sows, administered shots to sows and piglets, castrated, and docked tails. A third SAE included hours volunteering with Dan Lane Family Show pigs, where she delivered piglets, clipped their eye teeth, and ear-notched the piglets.
Her fourth SAE involved her own sheep flock operation, where she bought, raised, and bred multiple cross-bred and Dorset lambs and exhibited them at the Allamakee County Fair. Her final SAE involved hours she recorded creating and facilitating agriculture curriculum to second grade students at West Elementary School in Waukon.
“I noticed that our local elementary schools were lacking agriculture education in their classrooms, so I created my own curriculum,” Gebel shared. “This experience inspired me to pursue a degree in Agriculture Education at Iowa State University.”
In total, Gebel notes that she earned $8,448 throughout all of her five SAEs and worked 2,177 unpaid hours.
The American FFA Degree is the latest in a string of achievements for Gebel during her FFA career. She served as the Little Switzerland FFA Chapter President from 2021-2023, and as Chapter Reporter from 2020-2021. She also served as the Northeast Subdistrict Vice President on the Northeast Iowa District Officer Team from 2021-2022.
She has participated in a variety of FFA Leadership Development Contests, such as Creed Speaking, Public Speaking, Job Interview, and Agricultural Sales. She earned Reserve District Champion honors in that Job Interview Contest and then competed at the State level.
Gebel also took part in several FFA Career Development contests during her FFA career. She was a member of the 2023 Reserve State Champion Agronomy team and earned third place individually in that competition. She was also a member of the local chapter’s 2023 Reserve State Champion Farm Business Management team, and the 2022 Reserve State Champion Dairy Cattle Evaluation team, earning a fourth-place individual finish in that competition.
The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 1,027,200 student members as part of 9,235 local FFA chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.