William Serbus, a 2024 graduate of Kimball Area High School, recently earned the highest honor from Future Farmers of America (FFA), the American FFA degree.
Kimball received its first American FFA degree recipient back in 1992. Serbus is just the 12th Kimball student to earn this prestigious degree since the inception of the Kimball FFA Chapter back in 1939. Less than 1% of all students who participate in FFA achieve the American FFA degree.
“I’m pretty excited to earn this degree and make it this far,” said Serbus. “This took years of work and I’m grateful to earn this degree.”
Serbus is the second Kimball student to earn this award under the direction of Kimball agriculture teacher and FFA advisor, Michaela Gallup.
Gallup, who earned the degree herself as a student back in 2016, said this is a very challenging award to win. “I had William as a student from 7th-12th grade. It was rewarding to watch him grow into an incredible example of what we want our Kimball FFA and Agriculture programs to provide for our local students.”
Another instrumental advisor in Serbus’ FFA career has been local community member, Jennifer Schiefelbein. “William jumped in on any FFA team in junior high and was willing to step out of his comfort zone during high school. He actually helped start a Dairy Foods team in Kimball as well.”
As the parent of Abbey Schiefelbein ’18 who also earned the American FFA degree in 2019, Jennifer said the application process is very challenging for this award. “Kudos to William for persevering during his FFA years to document his accomplishments to help earn him this degree. He showed tenacity in the process.”
Serbus served as a Kimball FFA Chapter officer and learned time management, recruiting, organization and leadership skills during his prep tenure. He was also a member of Kimball’s first trap team and individually placed in the top-20 at the state tournament that season.
“I’ve found a life passion through FFA and I’m excited to be working in the plumbing industry,” added Serbus. “FFA gave me an opportunity to expand my farming experience into dairy foods, food science and nutrition.”
List of William Serbus' FFA awards:
Discovery degree - 2019
Greenhand degree - 2021
Chapter award - 2022
State degree - May 2023
American degree - Sept. 2023
As of August 2025, there are 1,042,245 student member sin the National FFA organization, which marks a record-breaking membership in the country.
Serbus, along with the other 2025 American FFA degree winners, has received an invitation to an awards ceremony on Nov. 1 in Indianapolis later this fall during the 98th Annual National FFA Convention and Expo.
Read more information about Serbus’ success story at: https://www.tricountynews.com/articles/william-serbus-earns-ffas-highest-honor-the-american-ffa-degree/
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