Kuna FFA’s strength amid continued growth and change in the community is one reason the chapter’s 75th anniversary was celebrated June 29.

Members of the southwest Idaho chapter talked to past officers and members, gathered photos and documents and sent about 600 invitations in preparation for the open house and dinner, chapter officers Aleyna Bruening and Morgan Holland said.

“We wanted to have a lot of people celebrate this,” said Bruening, chapter president.

“It’s good to see people,” said Holland, chapter vice president.

Lee Eichelberger, who served on Kuna’s school board for about 10 years, paged through photo albums during the open house. He had two sons in Kuna FFA. One is an electrical engineer. One works in information technology.

Through FFA, Eichelberger’s sons gained confidence, he said. They developed abilities to speak and present publicly “and to be able to go out and do things.”

Dinner presenters included Lt. Gov. Scott Bedke and former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Bedke, from Oakley, and Craig, from Midvale, cited examples of how FFA training had led them into positions of leadership in their communities, agriculture organizations, and politics, said Rick Waitley, a former Kuna ag teacher who directs Idaho Agriculture in the Classroom, Leadership Idaho Agriculture and Food Producers of Idaho.

“I use this more than what I learned at the colleges,” Greg Chaney, a Caldwell attorney and former Idaho House of Representatives member and committee chairman, said at the open house. As a Kuna FFA student and chapter president (1998-99), he learned valuable lessons about leadership, public speaking “and basically how to treat people.”

“I don’t know where I would’ve been without it,” Chaney said of FFA.

The chapter consistently performs well in competitions and produces graduates who go on to benefit their communities, said Matt Brechwald, a member of the Kuna FFA Alumni Advisory Committee.

“FFA attracts a certain amount of talent, and it’s the job of the chapter to facilitate that,” he said. That includes helping students bring out their talents and use them in tangible ways after high school.

Students who live in Kuna neighborhoods built on former farmland are among chapter members, Brechwald said. The program is “adapting, teaching them about ag and meeting them where they are.”

The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho estimates Kuna’s population at 31,490, up from 15,210 in 2010 and 1,955 in 1990.

While the community may change, fundamental animal science and other agricultural principles do not, said Shawn Dygert, longtime Kuna FFA adviser and Kuna High School ag teacher.

Bruening and Holland live in neighborhoods.

Interests in business, marketing and parliamentary procedure attracted Bruening initially. She later moved into outdoor agriculture including working for a farm.

“You don’t have to grow up in agriculture to be involved in ag,” Holland said. “FFA is for everybody.”

“The entire afternoon and evening celebrated the success of the Kuna FFA chapter, but also the opportunity going forward for the chapter in the year ahead,” Waitley said.

Materials gathered for the 75th anniversary could come in handy for future events, such as a 100th-anniversary celebration, Bruening and Holland said.

“We’ll be there,” Bruening said.