FALLS VILLAGE — The National FFA Organization is developing the next generation of leaders.
Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. It’s a time to share what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day.
The FFA mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. FFA helps members discover their talent through hands-on experiences, which give members the tools to achieve real-world success.
A combined 850,823 students from throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have chosen to be a part of FFA. Of those members,116 are from our chapter. Each year these numbers grow as more young people become a part of the organization. FFA was chartered in 1928 as the Future Farmers of America.
The organization changed its name from the Future Farmers of America to the National FFA Organization. The name changed because FFA is not only for future farmers, but it is for any and all students despite what their plans are for the future. It is an organization that provides countless opportunities and develops leadership skills that can carry over to all careers.
Housatonic Valley FFA (HVFFA) members are involved in local, statewide and national events throughout the year. This past summer, students attended the Washington Leadership Conference (WLC), the Sound School chapter exchange, and the Alumni Picnic hosted at Laurelbrook Farm. While at WLC, students spent the week with fellow FFA members from all over the U.S. to develop leadership skills and ways to help their community.
This summer, HVFFA partnered with the Sound School in New Haven for a chapter exchange program. Members from our chapter were invited on a deep fishing excursion, and in exchange, we gave their chapter members a tour of agriculture in our part of the state. The Housatonic Valley FFA Alumni Association sponsors both of these summer activities.
HVFFA also has many activities and events throughout the school year to help members learn and grow. Students prepare for and compete in numerous state competitions called Career Development Events (CDEs) and Leadership Development Events (LDEs). This past November, the Ag Communications team (Anne Moran, Simon Markow, Hannah Johnson and Chris Crane) and Creed speaker (Riley Mahaffey) competed at the National FFA Convention representing Connecticut.
In addition, students attend IMAGE, COLT, JLC, State FFA Convention, and the National FFA Convention. We give back to our community by helping with the Falls Village Car Show, volunteering at the Big E and the Goshen Fair, and sponsoring a rabies clinic over the summer.
HVFFA chapter members are looking forward to spring competitions, conferences and our annual ag open house. We appreciate all the ways that the community supports our program.
Lauren Sorrell is a student reporter at HVRHS and a member of HVFFA.
Submitted
Melanie Rundall and Tyler Anderson worked at the FFA Holiday Store at HVRHS this past winter.
Proffitt and her husband and business partner, Robert Bristow, are well-known leaders in the art and architecture communities, and their home, studio and workshop in Lakeville; store and office at 16 Main St. in Salisbury; and gallery space in Norfolk are vibrant hubs for arts and design in the region.
Proffitt has been coming to the area since she was a teenager. Originally from Puerto Rico, her family moved to the New York City area in the 1970’s. Her artist and architect father encouraged her interests in art and design and her deep desire to create. At school, she excelled in math and art and soon realized that this was all she wanted to do. “Think logically and then break the mold with creativity,” she said.
Armed with a degree in visual art from Trinity College, she pursued advanced studies at Berkeley and Pratt before receiving a master’s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where she met Bristow. Both landed apprenticeships in Boston and were drawn to the arts community in Norfolk centered around the Yale Summer Arts Program. The area quickly became their personal and family anchor.
They started Poesis, a furniture design and manufacturing studio, with a small loan from her mother. They landed a major house project and soon met a hotelier at a party who hired them on the spot to design a hotel in Washington, D.C.
Proffitt said, “I was hooked because it combined everything I wanted to do creatively: design experiences in the broadest sense with all the supporting pieces of the puzzle — furniture, objects, art. My father felt that architecture was the Renaissance profession: It holds the seeds of art, design, engineering and all the other ingredients. For me, it all starts with art.”
A rendering of King Winery, one of Pilar Proffitt’s current interior design projects.Provided
Proffitt is devoted to the area. She and Bristow raised their family in Lakeville. Their daughter Grace, a sculptor, attended Hotchkiss and is pursuing her MFA at University of Pennsylvania. Their daughter Ellis, also a graduate of Hotchkiss and Trinity, is a mathematician and aspiring actress in Los Angeles; and their son Sam attended Salisbury School and is a junior at Trinity, majoring in art history with a minor in architecture. They all are carrying forward the family’s passion for arts, architecture and design.
Proffitt’s interior design work and unique furniture pieces welcome visitors at Hotchkiss’ Art Center, the Scoville Memorial Library, her own wHole hOuse shop in Salisbury and, soon, across the street in the new Jam Food Shop, which is expected to open this fall.
The region’s many museums and galleries include some of Proffitt’s favorites, from Mass MoCA and the Clark to Salisbury’s Geary, Mad Rose in Millerton, Jack Shainman in Kinderhook and Art Omi in Ghent. Proffitt loves the connections and new opportunities brought to the community by the increase in full-time residents, as well as impromptu get-togethers with friends — recently watching a Knicks playoff game at the tavern bar at the White Hart. Moments like that keep her grounded here.
In addition to the White Hart, Proffitt is a fan of area restaurants, including Fern for a quick pasta at the bar; Isabela in Amenia, where Michelin-starred chef Jose Ramirez Ruiz is from Puerto Rico; and Clare de Boer’s Stissing House in Pine Plains.
A perfect day for Proffitt is spent working in her studio overlooking Lake Wononscopomuc, without distractions, rain or shine. It is a quiet and peaceful place that supports her many architecture and design projects. When asked what she would say to a younger version of herself just starting a career, she responded, “Don’t be so shy. As one of my professors told me, ‘Sometimes you just have to crash the party.’ Draw, write, run, play tennis. And travel!”
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