Ruff wins state FFA award through work with Clayton County Food Shelf

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

MFL MarMac senior Mackenzy Ruff has won a state proficiency award, an honor that recognizes FFA members who, through their supervised ag experiences (SAEs), develop skills they can use toward their future careers.

An SAE, along with agriculture classes and FFA, is one of three components to every ag program across the country.

“Anyone who comes into the ag room to take a class has an SAE as part of their semester grade,” explained MFL MarMac agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Sarah Wille. “That is something students do on their own, outside school, that’s related to agriculture. It could be working at Quillin’s, working on the farm, mowing lawns.”

Ruff has two SAEs. One involves working at her family’s Ruff Sugar Bush, collecting maple syrup, and the other is helping at the Clayton County Food Shelf, where she’s logged over 400 hours during her high school career. Ruff also developed a garden, growing produce for the food shelf.

It was for her work with the food shelf that Ruff was recognized as a state champion. She won the award in the service learning category, which is one of around 40 proficiency award categories available to FFA students at the state and national levels.

“You could do anything from dairy production to swine production, but since she was doing community service, we thought that one would fit,” noted Wille. 

To be eligible for the proficiency award, Ruff had to complete a 15- to 20-page application explaining her SAE, how many hours she completed, what she learned through the experience and how it’s related to agriculture. The application also included pictures, Ruff’s resume and details about her future plans and how she hopes to continue helping the Clayton County Food Shelf.

Basically, it’s telling a story to a judge who’s never met you and doesn’t know anything about your SAE.

“It was a lot of writing and performance reviews, a lot of essay questions simply about my SAE. It’s quite a bit of work,” detailed Ruff. “I had to explain every little thing I did over the past four years for my SAE. It’s a lot of information you have in your head that you have to get onto paper. I already had my records built up and prepared, so I didn’t have to do too much back tracking. I could see on this day I did this and could use it as an example.”

Ruff said it also helped that she’d already completed her application for the Iowa FFA Degree, which is the highest degree the state can bestow upon an FFA member.

“The SAE is part of the Iowa Degree, which is more broad, like what I’ve done through FFA and my chapter and at the district and state levels. The proficiency was just my story with the Clayton County Food Shelf,” she shared. “I knew I could get my Iowa Degree, so I filled out that application first. A few weeks later, the proficiency was due. It was good to get the Iowa Degree part done because some of the questions are similar, so I was already able to have the ideas in my head.”

Volunteering at the food shelf came naturally to Ruff. Her mom, Utoni, is the supervisor there.

“When I started high school, I needed my SAE, so I figured I could incorporate that somehow. I just started working more often,” she said. “Especially over this past year, my mom needed a lot of extra help but she wasn’t allowed to have volunteers in [due to the COVID-19 pandemic.] I didn’t have any school, so I was there every day helping. I also helped with the delivery program.”

Planting a garden was her family’s idea. It started as a 4-H project two years ago, then developed into a service garden.

“It was also a really good way to tie into agriculture and FFA and something I highlighted in my proficiency application,” remarked Ruff. “I’ve been gardening my whole life—it’s something I know very well. It was an easy step to take.”

Ruff starts the garden herself, using leftover seeds and plants donated to the food shelf each spring. A small plot of land on her family’s property, it includes everything from peppers to cabbage to tomatoes. She tends the plants throughout the summer, then donates all the produce, which is often in high demand.

“People in our community who come to the food shelf generally live in an apartment and don’t have the means to produce a garden on their own, and then buying fresh produce is expensive, so they just don’t get it,” Ruff said. “This was an easy way, and I feel like I kind of started a movement. Now we get a lot of fresh produce donated.”

“There are so many life lessons I can take away from this,” she added. “I’ve seen that need my whole life, but just being able to do something about it with that garden, it really helped that what I’m producing is going to someone and they’re going to use it.”

“That’s the kind of person Mackenzy is,” noted Wille. “She sees a need and is immediately spurred into action as to how she can handle it. She’s our chapter president this year, and I can’t say enough about how she leads by example and the impact she’s had on our chapter.”

Ruff said learning she’d received a state proficiency award was exciting. Just a few years ago, as a freshman, she was recognized on stage as the state’s 15,000th FFA member.

“It’s kind of come full circle,” quipped Wille.

“It was a good start to my FFA career because I got to realize what FFA was through state that year. After that, I was hooked and kept getting more active and involved,” shared Ruff.

Additionally, Ruff will also represent Iowa at the National FFA Convention in October, competing against other state winners in the same service learning category.

According to Wille, the state proficiency award one of the biggest honors an MFL MarMac chapter member has ever received.

“It’s been a career goal of mine the past few years to get a student to apply for a proficiency award because it’s something new that we hadn’t done much,” Wille said. “Then, for our first one to be a first place, gold rating in the state was truly remarkable. It’s very inspiring. To see great kids like Mackenzy get recognized for the hard work they’re doing is part of the reasons I love my job.”

Ruff, who plans to attend Iowa State University in the fall and major in animal science, said she’ll continue volunteering at the food shelf. She’ll also plant a garden again this year, perhaps even expanding it. 

She hopes winning the proficiency award will inspire other students through their SAEs. 

“I feel like a lot of kids, including myself, didn’t know what the proficiency is. They do their SAE, but don’t know what it entails,” Ruff said. “I hope they see that I went and did this and that there’s a reason for it all. It might help kids join FFA or do more with their SAE.”

Wille agreed. 

“We have students who are doing great things with their SAE. I think this fuels the fire to keep pushing forward. These things matter,” she said. “The record keeping, the learning, the experience, that’s the end goal. But you can get recognized for the cool stuff you’re doing. I hope this is our first of many.”