The Gift of Blue just in time for the holidays!

Students whom are active FFA members in the William Penn High School Chapter were nominated by their advisor Mrs. Karen Ferrucci to receive the “The Gift of Blue” from the National FFA Organization. Each year the National FFA Organization takes thousands of nominations for students that may otherwise not receive an official FFA blue jacket. Here are some fun facts about the official FFA Blue Jacket:

• The blue jacket’s origin dates to 1933 when FFA advisor Gus Linter saw a blue corduroy jacket in the window of a hardware store in Fredericktown, Ohio. He connected with the jacket supplier, Universal Uniform Company, and had his chapter’s name stitched on the back of the jackets with gold thread.
• At the 1933 National FFA Convention in Kansas City, the members of Linter’s chapter – Fredericktown FFA – debuted their blue jackets. They were so popular, the convention’s official delegates made them part of the official FFA attire.
• The millionth FFA jacket was sold in 1964, and by 1976, 2 million jackets had been sold. Today, more than 80,000 jackets are sold annually.
• It requires 1.6 yards of corduroy to create one FFA jacket. Over the course of a year, that’s approximately 128,000 yards of corduroy devoted to FFA jackets.
• Over time, the jackets have evolved to offer a better fit and feature zippers rather than snaps, and the pockets are now rounded instead of squared.
• FFA members can earn pins for their jackets, but there should never be more than three pins on the front. The three medals worn should represent the highest degree earned, the highest office held, and the highest award earned by the member. If members have a State or American degree, they may place that pin above their name, with the other two pins displayed below the name.

Give the Gift of Blue- More Info available @ https://www.ffa.org/GiveBlue/

Thanks to the Give the Gift of Blue program, funded by individual donors, foundations and corporate sponsors, the National FFA Organization gives jackets to members who wouldn’t otherwise be able to own one. Since 2014, National FFA has gifted more than 12,000 jackets.

Our students who were awarded the high honor include

• Gianni Logan -10^th Grade
• MaKayla Counts – 11^th Grade
• Valeria Ortega-Damian -10^th Grade
• Ava Mellinger – 9^th Grade
• Jeffery Brennan – 10^th Grade
• Thomas Seay – 9^th Grade