Franklin’s Collin Johnson in contention for high office in FFA
By Marcel Pacatte
Photo/Special to The Source
Editor’s note: This story originally ran in the Waverly Journal.
His family has been farming in the area for six generations; yet, he’s the first of the group to be in FFA.
And now he is the second Franklin FFA member in about as many years to advance to consideration for statewide office in that organization.
Waverly High School senior Collin Johnson, who is about to wind up his term as president of Section 14 of the FFA, found out that he is one of 10 leaders in regions of the Illinois FFA to vie for six spots as statewide officers for the coming year.
If all of this sounds familiar, fellow Franklin FFA member Thad Bergschneider had served as Illinois FFA president before becoming national FFA president, and he, as Johnson, came to the role after having served as Section 14 president.
It is, Johnson said, rare for two people from the same FFA chapter to advance to consideration for high office basically back to back.
Johnson said he learned of his selection at the airport, where he was about to take off so he and his mother, Brooke Hild, could go to Cornell University for admitted students day. “Stressful,” he said of trying to look at what had happened from his phone. He has committed to the Ivy League school, where he intends to study ag policy.
Not to count chickens, but if he is elected to state office, he will, as Bergschneider did, defer his studies to serve.
The three-sport athlete (golf, basketball and track) and Illinois State Scholar said he was deeply grateful to his family, his friends, and the entire Franklin and Waverly community for the support that has shaped his FFA journey.
“This opportunity is something I don’t take lightly, and it reflects the investment so many people have made in me over the years,” said Johnson. That encouragement and belief, he said, instilled in him the confidence to push through the rigorous process to be selected to state leadership team.
The Franklin club has 121 members this year, and FFA advisor Brent Nelson said Johnson has been an exemplary representative of the Franklin and Waverly communities.
Nelson said watching Johnson serve as Section 14 president has been inspiring.
“Collin has also been very successful in athletics and he had to make a choice on multiple occasions between attending FFA conferences and contests over athletic events. That is a decision that is difficult for any high schooler to make but he didn’t blink for a second and was bought in to seeing his FFA journey through and making the most of his years in the FFA jacket.”
Johnson said once he began exploring FFA as a freshman that he saw the possibilities for him and he knew it was something he wanted to pursue.
As for statewide office? “It was something I had hoped for,” Johnson confided.
The FFA’s other advisor, Kaitlyn Kane, said she remembered him outlining all of his goals at the end of his freshman year. “He had big goals and aspirations, and we wanted to accomplish every single one throughout this last year of him being section president. Seeing him run for state office would truly be the utmost accomplishment to finish off his Franklin FFA career.”
Both said they believe that the FFA members have looked to the successes of previous members and fed off of that, realizing that a members from a chapter at a relatively small school such as Franklin can compete at the top levels.
“We’ve been very blessed,” Nelson said. “The parents have raised some amazing people whom we have the privilege to teach.”
Johnson’s parents are Jessica and Adam Johnson and Brooke and Kevin Hild.
We asked Collin Johnson to think back to how he knew farming was his future. Without hesitating, he referred to his family and growing up with farming.
But the most vivid memory, that initial knowing, came, he said, from sitting with his grandfather, Jerry Johnson, on the tractor and the combine, “Just spending time with him, talking and learning. It’s something I cherish.”
