Winter Park High School · Orange County, Florida
Learn. Compete. Lead from your seat.
Year one of Winter Park's FFA chapter. Every seat on this team is a leadership seat — starting the day you walk in.
More opportunities for students, not less.
President: “FFA members, why are we here?”
“To practice brotherhood, honor agricultural opportunities and responsibilities, and develop those qualities of leadership which an FFA member should possess.”
— Every member, in unison, from the Official Opening Ceremony
FFA is the premier leadership organization for students in agricultural education — developing leadership, personal growth, and career success, not just farming skills.
📋 Class Supply List
📚 The Classroom Comes First
FFA is built into a real, state-standards-based agriculture course — not the other way around. Every syllabus is public, and every course follows Florida's official curriculum framework.
Source: Florida Department of Education, 2026–27 CTE Curriculum Framework for Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources — view the official framework page.
“Agriscience Foundations 1 (8106810) is the foundational course in the majority of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources secondary programs.” — FLDOE
Agriscience Foundations · Agritechnology · Animal Science
Don't want to miss the fun? Make sure you're enrolled in agriculture.
Contact your guidance counselor to enroll
“Living to Serve.”
More than a motto — it's who we are
Our goal: a service project every month. Have an idea? Please reach out →
Showing an Animal This Year?
Commercial laying hens close August 14, 2026 — the earliest deadline of the year. Market steer & goat close September 1, market swine & lamb close October 2. Ethics certification is also mandatory for every exhibitor, statewide, no exceptions. Registration links, deadlines, and everything else you need is on Shows & Fairs.
Chapter Calendar
Practices, meetings, shows, deadlines, and school closures — colour-coded so you can find what matters to you at a glance. This calendar updates live the moment Dr. Paterson adds something from her phone. Tap the + Google Calendar button in the corner to sync it to your own.
Blue and gold is chapter business. Dark gold marks FFA sanctioned events — those earn FFA points. Green is the show circuit: the fairs and jackpot shows, which are excellent competition but do not carry FFA points. Orange is the school district calendar. Purple is chapter-wide events tied to our Program of Activities.
This calendar updates in real time from Google Calendar. To add or change an event, Dr. Paterson opens Google Calendar, picks the right color-coded calendar from the list, and adds it there — no site changes or redeploys needed.
Our History
Winter Park has had an FFA chapter before. This year, it's being rebuilt — new leadership, new program, same Wildcat pride.
Orange County FFA students at a recent event. Winter Park is brand new — but the community it's joining is not.
Get Involved
You don't need a farm, a truck, or a single day of prior experience. You need to show up. This is where premier leadership gets built — through real projects, real competition, and real responsibility. Agriculture has a place for every student, and that is not a slogan — it's the whole reason this chapter exists.
An animal project is one SAE option among many — not something anyone starts with on day one. If it's the right fit for your family, you can raise and show at the county fair; if it's not, there's no pressure and no expectation that you will.
Plants, produce, and a working aquaponics system where the fish feed the greens and the greens clean the water.
Public speaking, job interview, parliamentary procedure. The skills that carry into every job you'll ever have. See all teams →
State convention and leadership conferences — with a few thousand other students wearing the same blue jacket.
Agriculture is a massive industry with real money behind its scholarships. We'll show you where the doors are.
This chapter has no traditions yet. The people who join this year are the ones who get to make them.
Meet Your Advisor
Agriculture Instructor & FFA Advisor
Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. Founded two agriculture programs from the ground up in Orange County, including a National Chapter Award-winning program at the high school level and a Premier Chapter at the middle school level. National Champion Agriscience Fair coach. Serves on the Orange County Agricultural Advisory Board, the Central Florida Fair Board, and the District 1 Leadership Board.
I believe agriculture has a place for every student — which is exactly why I'm thrilled to lead Winter Park's brand-new FFA chapter.
I am so honored to be building this program from the ground up — there's something truly special about a beginning like this one, and I can't wait to watch it take root and grow. I'm looking forward to getting to know our families, to walking alongside our students as they discover what they're capable of, and — quite simply — to wearing orange and black as a Wildcat. At the heart of everything I do is a commitment to real classroom standards and real student growth, and I can't wait to spend this year building something meaningful together with our parents and students.
— Dr. Paterson
Newsletter
Chapter news, upcoming deadlines, member spotlights, and what your student has been up to in the barn and the greenhouse. Sent to families and posted here.
Latest Issue · August 2026
Learn. Lead. Succeed. No previous experience needed — but you do have to be enrolled in an agriculture class, so go request your course today.
Questions?
Whether it's about enrolling in a course, the officer application, or anything else — send a message and we'll get back to you.