Hawthorne’s Vayda Bristow will receive the Future Farmers of America’s (FFA) American Degree in Indianapolis this weekend following years of volunteering, showing livestock and participating in her local chapter.
Alachua County will also have three other American Degree recipients from Santa Fe High School—Kailey Driver, Bailey Jones and Laura Kleckner.
Bristow will be the third Hawthorne native to earn the award—the highest possible through the FFA. The degree “rewards active FFA members for progress in all phases of leadership, skills and occupational development.”
Her great uncle Philip Bristow got the award in 1968 followed nearly 30 years later by Jason Hutchins in 1997. Bristow will now be the first female from Hawthorne with the FFA’s American Degree, with nearly another 30 years of separation.
“I know there is going to be a lot of people [in Indianapolis], so I’m just a little nervous for that, but also very excited,” Bristow said.
Bristow said a handful of other Hornets have worked to earn their state degree, a prerequisite for the American Degree, and are intent on continuing the work—perhaps breaking the 30-year cycle.
She started in FFA in junior high, working in various officer positions, volunteering with the Hawthorne Area Resource Center and Farm Share, and showing animals.
The American Award also requires a year in college, and Bristow has started her second year at Santa Fe College for agribusiness. She also works for Hawthorne Creek Creamery.
“I don’t really have a straightforward plan as of right now after I graduate,” Bristow said. “But there’s a lot of open opportunities that I’ve been thinking about.”