For Amboy agriculture teacher and FFA adviser Joseph Heavner, keeping the Clipper FFA ship steady is the best course for the program.

“As far as how the program has changed, I think it’s more that it has stayed steady,” Heavner said.

Around half of the more than 200 students at Amboy High School are enrolled in at least one class, with enrollment in the agriculture program hovering right around 105 students, Heavner said.

“Around half the building, at some point in the school day, comes to an ag class, and a good number of those students we see multiple times a day,” Heavner said.

This year, Amboy added a second teacher, Kelly Viall, who teaches ag math at the high school along with other high school agriculture classes, as well as an agriculture class to seventh- and eighth-grade students in Amboy Junior High School. The junior high school also has an FFA chapter, and Viall’s students have participated in FFA contests and events.

The addition of Viall meant that high school students don’t have to wait as long to take the many ag classes offered at Amboy.

“We had a lot of students waiting to take ag classes because we have so many ag electives. Now, with Mrs. Viall, we are able to offer almost every ag class we have at least once a year. It also makes it more manageable for the ag classes because now, instead of 20 plus students, we have manageable numbers,” Heavner said.

The agriculture program at Amboy High School offers over a dozen classes, from yearlong classes such as Introduction to Agriculture and Agricultural Mechanics, to semester-long classes in welding, ag construction, ag sales, animal science, plant science, horticulture, ag leadership and others.

The Amboy FFA chapter continues a steady course as well.

“We’ve been involved in the parliamentary procedure contest, that is one the kids really enjoy. We’ve done a lot of leadership development, and we’ve had members run for section office and state office and we’ve been fortunate to have success there,” Heavner said.

The current Illinois FFA state president, Natalie Pratt, is a graduate of the Amboy agriculture program and an alumna of Amboy FFA. Emma Dinges, another Amboy ag program and Amboy FFA alumna, served as the Illinois FFA state treasurer in 2024-25.

Amboy senior Grace Althaus currently serves as Illinois FFA Section 2 reporter, and fellow Amboy senior Jake Dinges serves as Illinois FFA Section 2 treasurer.

Heavner, who has been at Amboy for six years, also has added leadership posts to his list of duties. He currently serves as the Section 2 chairman for Facilitating Coordination in Agricultural Education, or FCAE, a program administered by the Illinois State Board of Education to advise ISBE and state officials on agricultural education. He also serves as the District 1 educator representative on the Illinois FFA board of directors.

Heavner said the expanding program at Amboy Junior High School is a boost to the program. For the high school, the goal is to continue to offer students the best opportunity to succeed.

“We are continuing to make the best of what we have. We have been working on upgrading some of our equipment. We upgraded welders in the welding shop, and we’ve gotten new woodworking equipment here in the construction shop, so we just want to continue offering every opportunity that we can to our students and FFA members,” he said.