The National FFA Organization is an agriculturally-based youth organization in the United States which has been providing/facilitating international experiences for its members for a number of years. One of these programs is the International FFA School to School Linkage Program (SSLP), in which selected American agricultural education/FFA programs are linked with specialized secondary agricultural schools/lyceums located in one of the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU). The programs main mission is for American students and teachers to share ideas with their FSU counterparts about the initiation and maintenance of small-scale agricultural entrepreneurships based on the United States agricultural education Supervised Agricultural Experience Program (SAEP) model as well as exposing them to FFA leadership activities.
During the 1997-98 school term, six agricultural education students and two adults from Prairie High School located in Prairie, Louisiana (pseudonyms), participated in the SSLP as one of six schools from the United States. The school was linked with the Zolatoya Agricultural Lyceum in Zolatoya, Platnaya Region (pseudonyms), Russia. The families of the participants were highly involved in the whole experience, from initial planning to fund-raising to hosting the FSU students to living with their own children upon their return. This qualitative study investigated How have the lives of two Prairie High School, Louisiana graduates and their immediate families been affected by their participation in the 1997-98 International FFA School to School Linkage Program? Through literature review, observation, interviews, and obtaining and analyzing pertinent archival information, the major themes identified were: A) Intellectual Development/Career Guidance Choices, B) Developing International Perspective, C) Change in Perception of Host Country/International Representatives, D) Personal/Family Development, and E) Heightened Sense of Community. Developing an International Perspective, Personal/Family Development, and Heightened Sense of Community had the highest frequencies of reference. Within the major themes, some of the most frequently referenced sub-themes were Career/Educational Choices, Awareness of Cultural Differences, Appreciation for the American Lifestyle, Openness to New Cultures, Parental Life Transitions, Development of Parenting Skills, Anxiety, Building of Family Relationships, Student Maturation, and Concern for Others/Making a Difference. Overall, all participants found this to be a worthwhile and life-changing experience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-04142004-083041 |
| Date | 15 April 2004 |
| Creators | Leger, Bradley Allen |
| Contributors | Earl Johnson, Joe W. Kotrlik, P. Lynn Kennedy, Satish Verma, Michael F. Burnett |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04142004-083041/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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