Theses and Dissertations Collection

AbstractEducation is a critical part in one’s future to being hired for a job. Post-secondary education is a sought after skill for many jobs out there, yet so many people are lacking it. Research suggests that career and technical education is a key component to getting a post-secondary education. Although, research has also shown that students who were involved in secondary FFA and SAE were not more successful than students who did not participate in those activities. The purpose of this study was to determine if involvement in FFA and SAEs during high school had a relationship with college involvement. Survey research methods were used to collect the data. At the University of Idaho, in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, 211 students completed the survey. There were 92 out of 210 students who were involved in FFA during secondary education and 82 out of 92 students who had SAE projects. The researcher identified that there was a moderate correlation of 0.345 between FFA involvement and college involvement and Pearson Chi Square correlation of 28.50 between SAE involvement and college involvement. The researcher recommends that college recruiters focus their attention on higher involved FFA students rather than just FFA members. It is also recommended that secondary agricultural educators push their students towards higher-level FFA events and leadership roles and that the students’ SAE projects be more rigorous.