South Dakota FFA Foundation, Inc.

Mr. Duane England, Milbank graduate, shared with author Hanson his personal highs and lows during that time period. England stated he was elected to a State FFA office at the 1945 State FFA Convention and was informed a few days later that his older brother had been killed in action in the Europe Theater. Years later, Author Hanson completed his student teaching under England.

Ron Thaden was enrolled in the Milbank High School Vocational Agriculture program as a Fishman in 1955 and graduated in 1959. Ron remarked that there were no females enrolled in agriculture classes. This changed not too far into the future. His instructor was Mr. Harold White. Ron described his Mr. White as very thorough and possessed knowledgeable content in all classes.

Classroom instruction included many aspects of agriculture at that time. Much of the curriculum contained animal science from a textbook, and observation of live animals especially in the spring as they prepared for State Judging Contests. Plant Science was a part of the curriculum. Ron recalls having shop classes each quarter, which included mechanics, welding, wood projects, and other areas of instruction which carried over to one's life. Farm management was integrated into various subjects. He indicated that the program had at least two student teachers a year.

Ron indicated that he benefited more from FFA than others, as he had two brothers who coached him. He was not as involved at home doing chores, which allowed him time for more participation in various FFA activities. Ron participated in Land Judging Contests at Webster and dairy products, dairy cattle and agriculture mechanics, elected Chapter Sentinel and obtained the State Farmer Degree. Ron mentioned that Community Service projects sponsored by the FFA were not all that common with the exception of cleaning the city park.

The Milbank community has proven to be a fairly solid community for teaching agriculture. Only three instructors from 1945 to the present day; Harold White, Bob Jaskulka, and Jerry Janisch. Is this some type of a record? Ron was asked what might be contributing to this fact and his response included: the support by the administration, program as being important and sense of making the instructors feel that Milbank was where they belonged.

Source: Article, Student and Instructor Experience in the 1960's

ALCESTER FFA CHAPTER
LLOYAL SAUGSTAD
Source: Article, Student and Instructor Experience in the 1950”s

Lloyal Saugstad, retired elementary teacher/administrator worked in Waubay, SD. He graduated from Alcester High School in 1956. Mr. Dobberstein was his vocational agriculture instructor for three years. All of the country boys were enrolled in agriculture classes and no girls were enrolled. The vocational agriculture classes were conducted in a building separated from the high school. The classroom and shop facility consisted of a surplus building from an airfield in Sioux Falls. In shop class, he constructed a tool/nail box. Lloyal still has the individual project.

Lloyal’s best classes focused on livestock. He recalls the Morrison Feeds and Feeding textbook, which was the basis for calculating rations. Lloyal stated that Parliamentary Procedure was a good instructional unit. The classroom consisted of long, narrow tables in a U shape with a lectern at one end. There was screen for a slide projector, which was considered modern at that time.

Lloyal was a member of the meats judging team and recalls sleeping on surplus, military mattresses in the “Old Barn” and being introduced to water balloons.
When describing the impart of Vocational Agriculture and serving as a State FFA officer, Loyal pictured himself as shy prior to becoming an officer. He acquired skills in working with people, improved adaptability, being persistent at times and more accepting of people.

Dairy cattle were an interest of Lloyal’s. As a high school Sophomore he subscribed to the Hoard’s Dairyman, a practice he continued.

Lloyal remembered a two-year FFA Chapter project involved “gleaning” ears of corn to help raise money for new athletic uniforms. The Alcester FFA Chapter also sponsored a donkey basketball game with FFA members volunteering to “guide” the donkeys.
Lloyal was employed at elementary schools for 43 years and utilized agricultural related material entitled “Ag in the Classroom.” In June 1975, Lloyal became the 491st individual to join the National FFA Alumni Association.

BALTIC FFA CHAPTER
JERRY JOHNSON
Source: Article, Student and Instructor Experience in the 1960”s

Jerry Johnson started Baltic High School as a freshman in the fall of 1962 and graduated in the spring of 1966. He had Chester White hogs for his agriculture project. He recalled that his swine project was not the most profitable enterprise as hogs hit $.15 during that time. He had a secondary project consisting of Muscovy ducks. As the ducks approached maturity, Jerry took the ducks to Dell Rapids where they were cleaned for $1.00 per duck. Jerry’s best memory was his instructor whom he describes as fantastic. Mr. Jim Pollmann was strict but somewhat informal. Jerry indicated that he enjoyed the class tours with fellow classmates. Jerry appreciated the farm visits Mr. Pollmann conducted.

A rather small room housed Jerry’s class consisting of twenty students. Class members were required to keep project records and were deemed important for a student at that point in life. Jerry particularly enjoyed drafting classes. He recalls, vividly, a shop class where the requirement was to build a bookcase, which he has to this day. Instruction in parliamentary procedure was deemed to be very important and the FFA Chapter was indeed viewed favorably by the school and community.

Jerry had heard from other students that the FFA would be an interesting experience. He fully intended to remain on the farm, but health reason prevented such employment. The FFA stands out as a great experience as he was a member of the milk quality and dairy cattle judging teams. Jerry recalls a lot of “back ground” preparation for participating in state contests.

BERESFORD FFA CHAPTER
MARVIN WASTELL
Source: Article, Student and Instructor Experience in the 1960”s

Marvin Wastell was a member of the Beresford FFA Chapter and Mr. Chicoine was Marvin’s vocational agriculture teacher. Instruction provided included shop, wood work, crops and soils topics. Marvin was a contestant in public speaking, soils and crop judging contests. Marvin’s best high school memories were the facilities including the first agriculture classroom and a fairly small shop. During his junior and senior years in high school he recalls a separate building for the agriculture classroom and shop some distance from the rest of the school. Marvin’s farm projects included corn, soybeans, oats, pigs, sheep, ewes, ducks and milk cows.

He obtained his State Farmer Degree along with four of his classmates. He was named as the Star State Farmer in 1959. He was elected to serve as State FFA President for 1959-1960, went on to obtain his American Farmer Degree and was South Dakota’s candidate for a National FFA Office in 1962. At that time the South Dakota FFA Association was limited, by quota, to only three American Farmer recipients.

Marvin recalled participating in FFA Chapter sponsored activities featuring a Safety Program including farm machinery safety, FFA week, and constructed park benches for the community swimming pool. Marvin reflected on his FFA Chapter as being active.
Mr. Wastell currently lives in Omaha and owns Gro Master, Inc, a swine equipment company. Marvin was recently elected President of the South Dakota FFA Alumni Association.

DOLAND FFA CHAPTER
RICHARD HOWARD - INSTRUCTOR
Source: Article, Student and Instructor Experience in the 1960”s

Richard Howard started teaching Vocational Agriculture at Doland High School in 1966. Mr. Howard described his curriculum as the traditional Crop Production, Freshman year; Livestock Production, sophomore year; Agricultural Mechanics, junior year and Farm Management, senior year. This particular curriculum design was considered somewhat standard at that time. The instructional pattern included Monday, Wednesday and Friday classes in the vocational agriculture classroom with Tuesdays and Thursday classes delivered in the shop.

Gerri Eide, SD FFA Foundation, interviewed Cecil Richter, formerly of Madison, S.D. Richter attended Eastern Grade School and High School located on the campus of Eastern State Normal School – now Dakota State University, where he graduated high school in 1947. A phone call after a recent FFA press release connected Richter and Eide originally. Richter called to say he still has his FFA jacket after all these years, lovely kept in the family cedar chest. He put it on, saying, “It doesn’t fit quite like it used to.”

Yes, there was an Eastern Chapter of the South Dakota FFA. Madison, South Dakota had two High Schools. Madison High School, located one block off of west Main Street and a second High School, named Eastern High School. Eastern High was on the General Beadle College campus (now known as Dakota State University). The campus high school served the purpose of hosting student teachers. The rural students living in the country around Madison attended Beadle, while those students living in the City of Madison attended Madison High School. A vocational agriculture program was offered by Eastern High School. The name was changed to General Beadle High School when the college name was changed to General Beadle State Teachers College. At that time, the FFA Chapter was identified as the Madison-Beadle Chapter. A fire during the 1962-1963 school destroyed Beadle High School. Rather than rebuilding, the two high schools merged into Madison High School. An outgrowth of the school resulted in Agricultural Education classes being offered at the “new” Madison High school.

From 1908-1960, the South Dakota School of Agriculture at Brookings educated young men and women from across South Dakota in a unique atmosphere. For five months of the year, students lived on the campus of South Dakota State College and took "practical" classes to prepare for life on the farm and in the home. As a replacement for their high school course, the school primarily taught vocationalagriculture and home economics but did not neglect traditional subjects such as English and arithmetic. Students took part in a full range of extracurricular activities and even published a newspaper. Aggies, as they were widely known, thus reaped the benefits of a high school education while still working at home or earning money to pay tuition for seven months of the year.

In the earliest years, enrollment in the school was very high. Both boys and girls were represented, and many students were older than average high school students were. High schools were not common in rural South Dakota, and those that were available were often at quite a distance, requiring students to live away from home. The five-month calendar was particularly attractive to rural students, and the location at South Dakota State University made many older students feel less conspicuous.

Following the 1917 passage of the Smith-Hughes Act, which provided funding for vocational and home economics in the public schools, enrollment began to decline slightly. The establishment of high schools throughout the state also assisted in the decline, although rural students continued to attend. Following World War II, the school began to offer a certificate in agriculture for high school graduates, similar to an associate's degree. By the early 1950's the number of girls enrolled dropped to two, and the home economics courses were dropped entirely. The agriculture classes were still offered however, although enrollment was often very low for the high school courses. In 1959, due to the drop in enrollment and growth in the number of high schools across the state, South Dakota State College decided to discontinue the high school courses and offer an associate's degree in agriculture as a replacement for the post-graduate work. In June, 1960, the last students graduated from the School of Agriculture, and it officially ceased to exist.

Dave Gullickson, orginally from Flandreau, currently a local Brookings business person, owned and operated Farmers Implement and Irrigation, Inc. located in Brookings and Watertown. Dave graduated from the "Aggie" School in 1960. Dave also had three brothers who attended the School.

March 1, 2025 Dave and his family were recognized as the SDSU Family of the Year!

The book, Profitable Farm Management was published January 1, 1957 by James E. Hamilton and W.R. Bryant. Mr Bryant was the Ag Teacher at Canton from 1937-1973. Click here to view the dedication page to him from a 1963 annual.

FFA Chapter Histories