Two thousand sixteen Tyrone graduate Elizabeth “Lizzy” Conrad is the newest Tyrone FFA member to receive the national organization’s highest honor, the American FFA Degree.

Conrad is part of a family with a long tradition of FFA involvement. At least three of Conrad’s relatives, her grandfather, father, and older sister, were also FFA degree recipients.

Conrad earned this distinction through her Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) program on the Conrad Dairy Farm and entrepreneurship projects raising and showing dairy beef cattle and red and white Holsteins.

“Receiving my American FFA Degree gives me a proud sense of accomplishment. It means that I have went through so much, from the editing and record keeping to constantly talking to Mrs. Hoy, to make sure I had everything right,” said Conrad, “The countless hours I had spent on my record books became so much more meaningful when I heard that I received my degree. I am so grateful to have been able to go through everything I did to be able to receive my American Degree.”

All FFA members have the opportunity to earn FFA degrees. Whether it’s the Greenhand, Chapter, Keystone (State) or American FFA degrees, members earn degrees at different times in their membership based on specific activities and requirements.

Only FFA members who have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to FFA and make significant accomplishments in their supervised agricultural experiences are eligible for the American FFA Degree.

“Lizzy is a driven young woman who loves her ability to work on her family dairy farm and continues to look into the future of keeping family farms alive.  She shares her passion with anyone who asks.  There was never a doubt that Lizzy would obtain her American FFA Degree. She set her sights on the highest honor while a freshman in high school,” said Tyrone ag teacher and FFA adviser Tiffany Hoy.

Conrad had some advice for FFA members who would like to follow in her footsteps.

“Don’t be afraid to ask Mrs. Hoy or past recipients of this award for guidance and help when you need it,” said Conrad, “Don’t let stress get to you when you’re in the process of reaching this goal either. Know that your hard work and keeping up with your journal entries and finances will pay off. Keep up with your record keeping and keep up the hard work. It’s worth it.”

Conrad was one of a 4,255 FFA members to receive their American FFA Degrees at the 2018 National FFA Convention and Exposition in Indiana.

The American FFA Degree is awarded at the National FFA Convention and Expo each year to less than one percent of FFA members, making it one of the organization’s highest honors.

Conrad plans to continue to show her dairy cattle and dairy beef for another year under her FFA membership. She then plans to show in open classes and assist her nieces and daughter to start in the 4-H and eventually enter into the FFA. Conrad also believes she has room to improve and set higher goals for the future.

“I would like to add a thank you to Mrs. Hoy for never giving up on me and to my dad, Sam Conrad Jr. for pushing me to do my very best and for the many experiences and abilities to learn hands-on, on the family dairy farm, because without that I wouldn’t have been able to fill my record book with as much as I did,” said Conrad.