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FFA Tailgate: A Cold Day Of Fun, Food, Football & Fellowship With Potential Students

by | Dec 5, 2018 | Alumni, Student Experience

(Note: this post was written by Kenley Bramall, an agricultural business and agricultural communications student who is Bumpers College’s lead ambassador this year)

Have you ever been to a tailgate full of high school FFA students? I had not, either, until the LSU football game this year. The Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences staff and ambassador team partnered with Alpha Gamma Rho to host Arkansas FFA students and families for a tailgate.

FFA members traveled to campus alone, with parents and as chapter groups. The day started out calm and with fair weather, but as the hours passed the temperature quickly dropped. It was a good thing the Hawkins Family Terrace had heaters! We also had hot chocolate provided by the Alumni FFA. We had a busload of FFA students from Crossett, a big group from Siloam Springs and a large turnout from Fayetteville, among our guests.

Sigma Alpha, a professional agricultural sorority, hosted a desert contest and the entries were oh so good. (Tim Stults won the contest with a delicious chocolate pecan pie. Can you say “yum?”)

And let’s not forget the food provided by AGR! The men worked with Tyson Foods to get chicken donated and they cooked us some delicious chicken wings and jambalaya, which was provided by Southern Food Company.

You can imagine the atmosphere, music blaring, food and games everywhere, giant blow-up Hogs and students of all ages. Dean Deacue Fields introduced himself to the crowd and made friends throughout the group.

Each Bumpers College department was represented and had games and goodies for our guests. Some games included giant Jenga, animal science quiz bowl, HedBanz, Cornhole and more. The college also had a photo booth for students to enjoy and provided a Snapchat filter for all those selfies! At kickoff, students were able to enjoy the game at a discounted price.

Bumpers College loves partnering with Arkansas FFA for events like this! Thanks to Chris Bacchus and Arkansas FFA for helping us get the word out and making this event possible. It’s great to have those students on campus. Even when they are here for a social event, like this tailgate, they are learning more about us, our majors and potential careers.