State Scholarship Finalists and winners

State Honorary Degree Recipients 

Cindy Brown

Mrs. Brown is a Past CATA President, previous high school agriculture teacher for 40 years and is a current instructor at Porterville College. While teaching, she truly loved training her Poultry Judging teams. Her passion and love has benefited our association through her facilitation of the State FFA Poultry CDE Finals for the past eight years. Mrs. Brown was a no-nonsense teacher with a fun side as well, and continues to maintain that approach while being responsible for coordinating staff and transporting birds to the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo campus. Her diligence has allowed the poultry event to be a success while providing quality experiences for FFA members and their advisors. Mrs. Brown has brought her knowledge and wisdom to ensure that the California FFA Poultry event is conducted with rigor and relevance for those who share her passion for the poultry industry. Mrs. Brown has truly made a difference to the Agricultural Education Profession.

Jacob Odello

Mr. Odello serves as the chairperson of the Agriculture Education Advisory Committee, which is appointed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As the Chair of the committee for the past three years, Mr. Odello led the development of the 2025-2030 Agriculture Education Strategic Plan. Additionally, he judges proficiency awards and scholarships, which directly affect students' success. When he is not working on behalf of California FFA, he is the Director for Food and Industrial Safety at the Nunes Company. California FFA is fortunate to have someone who has a passion for agriculture education and FFA members. Thank you for making a difference in Agriculture Education and for all of your efforts and vision for generations to come.

Dr. Benjamin Swan

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Agriculture Education and Communication Department Chairperson, Dr. Benjamin Swan has given 15 years of service to the California State FFA organization by working with his colleagues and providing oversight to the State FFA CDE Finals. Dr. Swan has overseen the logistics component of the State Finals, specifically working with and securing event advisors, student chairs. and industry sponsors. In addition, Dr. Swan has worked with the university leadership while dedicating his professional career to working for the success of our state association and his collegiate students as future agriculture teachers. We also appreciate and value his assistance with the CATA Conference for our California FFA Advisors. Dr. Swan, we don’t say thank you nearly enough.

Dr. Andrew Thullin

California Polytechnic State University, Retired Dean Andrew Thulin has given 25 years of service to the California State FFA organization in countless ways, but we recognize him for his commitment to ensuring that Cal Poly had the resources to assure they could host and facilitate the State CDE Finals Event on the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo campus. Dean Thulin has ensured that the facilities and staff have been made available to the California FFA at no cost and has worked closely with the university leadership to provide for regional and state CATA conferences. In addition, he was instrumental in securing the significant scholarships to our California State FFA officers who have chosen to be students in San Luis Obispo. Dean Thulin has ensured student success while providing and ensuring quality experiences for our California “blue and gold”. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Dr. Thulin in his retirement.

Dan Crookham

As an agriculture educator in Exeter for 34 years, Dan Crookham has become recognized as an Agriculture Mechanics expert and has used that knowledge to help new and veteran teachers in the field. His engaging approach attracts many outstanding students to become involved. Dan hosts CDE contests statewide, and he developed the Ag Mechanics Fair CDE contest that has grown in popularity. Additionally, he has helped grow the California Youth Ag Expo Agriculture Mechanics auction that has allowed talented Ag Mechanics students to benefit financially for their hard work. Mr. Crookham has truly made a difference.  

Michael Clifford

Michael Clifford is responsible for serving as the Dairy Cattle CATA representative at the California FFA State Finals on the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo campus for seven years.  Mr. Clifford looks forward each year to ensuring that the logistics for this event are conducted professionally and scored accurately. While a high school agriculture teacher, he loved teaching agriculture skills to his students for 30 years so that they could either use these skills for a profession or in their home lives. He always saw the potential in each student and encouraged them to do their best.  His dedication to the agricultural industry and commitment to the California FFA is admired by countless individuals. Mr. Clifford, thank you for serving on the California FFA Adult Board and the California FFA Advisory Board for twelve years. 

Dr. John Williams

Dr. John Williams has made significant contributions to California Agricultural Education. For the past five years, he has been a member of the California Agricultural Teachers Association (CATA) state officer team. During his tenure, he and his fellow CATA officers have worked to promote the well-being of those involved in agricultural education and ensure that the organization is sustainably supporting the more than 1,000 Ag teachers that are members of the greatest profession in the world. In addition to his role at CATA, Dr. Williams is a professor at Fresno State University. In this position, he has organized numerous state final contests in mechanized agriculture. Dr. Williams's years of servant leadership in agricultural education make him truly deserving of a California Honorary State FFA Degree.   

Kevin Woodard

Mr. Woodard has made significant contributions to the statewide effort in Agricultural Education in California. He served as a member of the California Agricultural Teachers Association (CATA) Executive Committee for five years, leading during the challenging COVID pandemic. Alongside his fellow committee members, Mr. Woodard worked diligently to ensure that all student opportunities remained accessible despite unprecedented circumstances. His time in office was marked by some of the most turbulent periods in the organization's history, which spans over 100 years. In addition to his year of service on the CATA Executive Committee, Kevin is the host coordinator for the Natural Resources Management State Finals Career Development Event held at Reedley College. This combined with serving on the FFA Adult Board is why he deserves Honorary membership.  

Diane Wong

Dr. Gregory Schwartz

An Agricultural Mechanics CDE advisor for eight years and professor at Cal Poly, Dr. Gregory Schwartz is a faculty member in the Agriculture Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Dr. Schwartz looks forward each year to ensuring that the logistics for this event are conducted professionally and scored accurately. He works closely with industry representatives for donations and assists the student chairs in organizing the event. Dr. Schwartz’s passion for this event is evident by calculating all the California FFA Field Day data to determine the top 24 teams to compete in the State Finals Ag Mechanics CDE.  His diligent work ethic has allowed several FFA members to advance their skills in the area of Agricultural Mechanics. With an economy in great need of people with these skills, we are fortunate to have his expertise leading us.