DAYKIN, Neb. - Every year two instructors across Nebraska are presented with an award that recognizes their efforts to help their local FFA chapters grow and thrive. And this year one of the winners is the leader of a fairly new FFA program at a small school in rural Southeast Nebraska: Meridian’s Emilye Yowell is one of the winners of the 2025 FFA Advisor of the Year award presented by the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation.  

“It feels phenomenal, honestly when I got the call and they told me I won the award I was in shock...just hearing the great things that my kids had to say about me kind of left me speechless,” Yowell said this week. “I think often in my role, or in any education role, it’s easy to feel like maybe you’re not getting appreciated or not being seen, but it was just really great to know that my kids can see the effort that I put in to my FFA chapter and our student body.” 

Just like her students who are learning construction techniques and how to work with all different types of welding gear, for the past three school years, Emilye Yowell has helped build the FFA program at Meridian Public School into a steady force. Meridian won many individual and team awards and commemorations at the annual FFA convention in Lincoln at the start of this month, headlined by Yowell winning statewide recognition as one of Nebraska’s FFA advisors of the year. 

“It signifies the work and the effort that all FFA advisors put in throughout the entire year, and even throughout the summer. I feel like, especially as FFA advisors, we are constantly going, we are constantly taking kids to practices, contests, field trips, and it signifies all the behind-the-scenes efforts that we put in. I’m just extremely thankful that my kids thought I was deserving of this award, and honestly, I don’t really tear up very often, but just hearing what they had to say and knowing that they’re seeing those things and are thankful for those things, I’m just very very thankful.” 

The award is completely student-driven, so one weekend this year Meridian’s team of FFA officers fired up the group chat and got to work on the application, highlighting the instruction they’ve received, the awards they’ve won and the opportunities they’ve experienced, all thanks to the educator they all call “Mrs. Y.” 

“There’s tons of advisors throughout the state that do incredible things, but we were lucky enough this year to be able to apply for it and get our teacher some recognition, because she deserves it more than anybody I’ve ever known,” said Landon Peterson, vice president of Meridian’s FFA chapter. “She’s just the best. You can ask anybody throughout the entire school, whether they’re in FFA, whether they’re in ag classes or not, everybody will say that Mrs. Y is just the best.” 

According to the NFBF, winning teachers were chosen based upon their school and community involvement, leadership development in the classroom, and their ability to keep their students involved in agriculture. Yowell was in the middle of class when she got a call informing her she had won, and was then formally presented with the plaque that now resides in her classroom in Daykin – along with a $1,000 donation to her school’s FFA chapter – at the Nebraska State FFA Convention in Lincoln at the beginning of April. 

FFA first arrived at Meridian in 2018, but for a small school that’s built around a cornfield in the small rural Southeast Nebraska town of Daykin, the values this organization instills are literally built into the school’s foundation. There’s more than 70 students involved in the program across all levels, and that buy-in has helped Yowell, who teaches every subject in the FFA elective course catalog, prove to the school that FFA provides meaningful lessons to students in the present while preparing them for possible career paths in the future.  

“I think a school like Meridian winning this award really signifies the amount of work that we do here, and the opportunities that we provide," Yowell said. “We try to make sure we have events and activities that would pique interest in all kids, not just specific groups. We go on welding tours, and we have contests in animal science and things like that, so we have a lot of, I think, opportunities for kids, beyond just agriculture in general. I think a lot of kids will come into my class and be like, ‘I have to grow up on a farm to fit in here,’ or I have to be directly tied to agriculture in order to fit in in the classroom or in FFA, and that’s definitely not the case.” 

And that sense of community has helped her students enjoy an impressive amount of statewide success as they add another tool to their skillset as they prepare to move on from Meridian, either into the wider world of agriculture or otherwise. 

“It takes us students to do it too, but without her guidance, her education, her encouraging us to do these things...none of those plaques would be there without Mrs. Y,” Peterson said. “I think the biggest thing is the opportunities she gives us. She is the one who teaches us about agriculture. She’s the one who gives us the opportunities for leadership development and career development events, where we’ll further our knowledge in agriculture and leadership, and all sorts of really incredible things.” 

The other winner of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Foundation’s 2025 FFA Advisor of the Year award is Ben Robison of Alma.