A CENTURY OLD

He’s old enough to remember days with no electricity, no tractors and milking by hand. While most people may not have been able to relate much with Luke Broulik, there is one thing they did have in common—they all are current or former FFA members.

Broulik is believed to be the oldest remaining FFA member from Owatonna having been a member from 1952-54. If anyone had any doubts, a tattered and worn FFA jacket with his name and years stitched on the front eased those concerns. He was one of the featured speakers at Saturday’s 100^th Anniversary Banquet of the Owatonna FFA.

“FFA was going strong 28 years before my FFA days,” said Broulik, who joined in 1952 when he was a sophomore. Broulik is just as active, if not more, in farming today as he was while in high school. At 87, he still farms with two sons north of Blooming Prairie.

The lifelong farmer credits FFA for providing him with the courage and desire to convince his father to allow him to start a farming program. “He agreed and my ag instructor helped us to go get what we wanted,” Broulik recalled.

Broulik and his father headed to Iowa in the family’s 1936 Chevy pick-up where they picked up a purebred Chester White bred gilt for $100. “I borrowed $50 from dad to buy it,” he said. “That was the start of my FFA and my farming.”

During Broulik’s senior year of high school, he served as treasurer of the FFA chapter. He went on to earn his American Farmer Degree in 1957.

Back in the early years, the FFA chapter raised money by selling boxes of Christmas cards and wrapping paper, Broulik said. Members had an opportunity to compete at the district level for parliamentary procedure. The chapter hosted watermelon feeds during the summer.

After high school, Broulik attended the School of Agriculture at the University of Minnesota for two years. It was during his college days when he got his big break. A farm back home went up for sale and Broulik jumped at the chance with the help of his father. His farming operation has swelled to 2,000 acres today.

“FFA is a great organization helping young men and women to accomplish great things,” Broulik said. “We will always have rural life and farmers producing food,” he added.

The main guest speaker was Cindy (Mulert) Birchmeier, who grew up on a beef farm south of Owatonna and was in FFA during her high school years. Birchmeier, who graduated in 1996, is now senior vice president of GreenStone Farm Credit Services in East Lansing, Mich. In her role, she leads a staff of 35 credit lenders responsible for a portfolio of $8 billion.

“I have a passion for rural America,” she told the crowd. Acknowledging she was a middle of the road kid in high school, Birchmeier said it didn’t keep her from working hard and taking risks.

She credits FFA for providing life-long skills where students where students learn and deploy in eventually deploy in real life jobs. “They are able to hit the ground running because of FFA,” she said.

FFA, Birchmeier said, taught her how to be courageous and presented her with many opportunities for connections. “It gave me the confidence to take risks,” she said.

Birchmeier encouraged current FFA members to “believe in yourself and do the things that are going to make you the best person.”

She also turned to the adults in the room. “Your future leaders are right here and please continue to support them,” she said. “They are far ahead of their classmates.”

Marvin Spindler did not have the opportunity to be in FFA when he was in high school. However, that hasn’t stopped him from serving as Owatonna’s FFA advisor for the past 25 years.

Spindler pointed out how FFA is all about leadership opportunities and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with agriculture. “It makes you a better person with the leadership skills they learn,” he said, noting he tailors the program to focusing on real life situations and skills.

Various awards were given out at the banquet. Among them:

Honorary Chapter Degree- Steve and Suzie Hanson, Justin and Amber Lacher, Sheldon and Bertha Langager, Andy and Lindsay Cox, Jed and Shannon DeWitz and Michelle Pool.

Marvin Spindler Award- Dennis Ringhofer.

Discovery Degree- Lacey Hoffmaster.

Greenhand Degree- Jesse Fonner, Halle Anderson, Lily Prestgard, Brayden Busho, Alexandra Herget, Shelby Ross, Laura Benito Martos and Logan Hebel.

Chapter Degree- Laura Benito Martos, Jesse Fonner, Kayden Melby and Logan Hebel.

State Degree- Jena Hanson, Madilynn Pool and Justin Landager.

American Degree- Evan Melby.