Champions of Change

The best ideas come from the American people. Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has a part to play.

All across the country, ordinary Americans are doing extraordinary things in their communities to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. Every week, we will invite these Champions of Change to the White House to share their ideas to win the future.

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Champions of Change: 4-H and Future Farmers of America

The White House honors twelve members of FFA and 4-H for creating sustainable change in their communities.


Ridge Howell

Ridge Howell is a high school senior in his hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma, and a leader and advocate for youth community involvement. Ridge works hard to encourage other young people in Checotah...

Jessica McAtamney

Jessica Naugle Mcatamney is an agricultural educator at W.B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA. Jessica serves as FFA advisor to one the nation’s largest FFA chapters,...

Jacob Dickey

Jacob E. Dickey is currently a sophomore studying Agricultural Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an active member of the FFA, Jacob has a combined 7 years of FFA...

Neeta Patel

Neeta Patel is a first-year student at Princeton University. Throughout her high school career, she was very involved in the Camden County 4-H Program. She went on to serve as an AmeriCorps member...

Kea Norrell Boyd

Kea Norrell Boyd is an Educator for the Wayne County 4-H Mentoring Program, a part of the Children & Youth Institute at Michigan State University Extension. Kea has devoted her career to...

Bill Jimmerson

Bill Jimmerson is a retired educator who served for 32 years as a Agricultural Education teacher and FFA Advisor in Montana. During his seven years as Montana State FFA Advisor, he created the...

Kaydn Ence

Kaydn Ence is a high school junior from Saint George, Utah. He is a very involved and motivated 4-H teen leader, driven to create positive change in his community. When a company decided not to...

Jordan Paine

Jordan Paine is the President of the Southern Valley FFA Chapter and the Oxford Jr. Feeders 4-H Club in Oxford, Nebraska. She also serves on Nebraska’s Youth Curriculum Committee that helps to...

Chamonix Mejia

Chamonix Mejia has been an active 4-H member for the past 11 years. Through her club, Mesquite Rangers, she has encouraged 4-H’ers to value the many opportunities that 4-H has to offer and to...

Dr. Samuel Roberson

Dr. Samuel G. Roberson Sr. is currently a Program Specialist, 4-H & Youth Development Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program in Texas. Dr. Roberson has actively...

Andrea Kneer-Rice

Andrea Kneer-Rice grew up in Frederick County, Maryland. She was a devoted 4-H and FFA member who traveled across the country with the Maryland state 4-H horse teams. She recently began working...

Dr. Pete Dreisbach

Dr. Pete Drisbach serves as Director of the Kentucky FFA Leadership Training Center. For 25 years, Dr. Pete has worked tirelessly to improve its programming and facilities while welcoming young...

Champions Blog Posts

  • October 15, 2012 at 8:58 AM EST

    A Startup Called Government

    Jay Nath is Chief Innovation Officer for the City of San Francisco. In 2009, Jay established an Open Data policy to make all non-confidential government data sets publicly available. This year, he helped launch ImproveSF.com, a crowd-sourcing platform that empowers San Franciscans to generate and implement their own solutions to citywide problems. Jay has learned that people are willing to work collaboratively with their government to address long-standing societal challenges.

  • October 11, 2012 at 4:41 PM EST

    Bridging FFA Chapters

    Bill Jimmerson is a retired educator who served for 32 years as an Agricultural Education teacher and FFA Advisor in Montana. Following in his high school FFA advisor's footsteps, Bill began incorporating community service into every aspect of his life at a very young age.
    He created the FFA/American Indian program to bridge the gap between FFA chapters on Indian reservation and other FFA members through the state of Montana.

  • October 10, 2012 at 4:38 PM EST

    Community Leaders for a Lifetime

    Dr. Pete Dreisbach is the Director of the Kentucky FFA Leadership Training Center. Pete was born in Yadakunya, Nigeria to U.S. born citizens serving abroad for approximately sixty years. His unique upbringing shaped his world view, and created a strong interest in agriculture and youth development. Pete developed a passion for FFA because of its natural combination of agricultural education and youth development.

  • October 10, 2012 at 4:13 PM EST

    Every Opportunity

    Andrea Kneer-Rice is a 4-H educator at the University of Maryland Extension, with a focus in STEM education. Andrea believes that in 4-H, it is important for members to take advantage of every opportunity. She says that a new experience can lead into a never before seen talent for our youth, and inspire them to continue discovering themselves.

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