Six former Ramona FFA students earn coveted American Degree

On break from his studies at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Mac Moretti was busy rounding up cattle, repairing damaged fencing and working on irrigation lines at the family’s beef cattle ranch in the Santa Ysabel/Julian area.

A sophomore majoring in agriculture systems management, Moretti is a fourth-generation cattle rancher.

“I want to come back and keep the family legacy going,” said Moretti, who graduated from Ramona High School in 2024, after switching from Julian High.

He said he wants to use knowledge he’s already gained from his studies to improve both his own and the family’s herds, use different crop production methods to improve the oat hay they grow and sell and help with his mother’s Julian specialty grocery store.

Long before he started college, Moretti, like many other Ramona High students, was already learning additional agriculture skills as members of the Future Farmers of America, or FFA.

And he, along with five other Ramona FFA members and high school graduates earned their American FFA Degree — a distinction only 1% of FFA members across the nation achieve, according to Dani Upson, one of four agricultural teachers at the high school and an FFA adviser.

In addition to Moretti, Jennifer Parker, Karlee Larzalere-Higuera, Collin Cavataio, Hadassah “Haddy” Ingvoldstad and Wesley Gratzer learned in August that they had earned the honor.

“As the highest degree achievable in the National FFA organization, the degree requires years of dedication, documented proof of agriculture experience, outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement from highly committed FFA members,” Upson said.

To earn the degree, FFA members must complete detailed record books following their agriculture journeys throughout high school and beyond, including completing at least three years (540 hours) of secondary school in agricultural education, performing 50 hours of community service across three different activities, demonstrating outstanding leadership, and showing participation and achievement in both chapter and state level FFA.

Jennifer Parker, who graduated from Ramona High in 2023, was inspired by her family’s business to pursue her education at the University of Wyoming.

“My passion in life is agriculture; my parents were both raised in Ramona and own Matt Parker Hay Company,” Parker said.

With plans to be a high school agriculture teacher and adviser, the college junior is majoring in agriculture education, with a concentration in agriculture communications and a minor in agriculture business.

“I want to be a stepping stone to give future generations knowledge of the agriculture world,” she said. “I really hope that the American FFA Degree speaks to my future students more than anything — it’s a milestone they can complete as well.”

Karlee Larzalere-Higuera said neither she nor her family had any agriculture experience before she became involved with the ag program her freshman year at Ramona High.

“Raising animals to show in FFA — from a chicken to a pig to a shorthorn heifer — taught me about responsibility beyond schoolwork,” she said.

After graduating in 2024, Larzalere-Higuera now attends the University of Arizona, Tucson, majoring in animal science.

She’s already making an impact as a member of Arizona’s first meat judging team. Although she originally wanted to become a veterinarian, she is now leaning more toward a career in food safety, such as in meat grading or meat inspection.

Collin Cavataio, a 2023 San Pascal High School graduate, is now a junior at Texas A & M University, majoring in agriculture leadership and education development, with a minor in agriculture communications and journalism.

“I used to think ag was just farmers and ranchers, but FFA exposed that world and made me fall in love with it,” he said.

Cavataio began in 4H, switching to the Ramona FFA in high school, showing swine, goats and cattle. While in FFA, he placed Reserve at Del Mar in 2023 with a pig and with only 60 days to prepare, placed Reserve with a market goat at the 2024 Ramona Junior Fair.

“I want to do something more beneficial to the agriculture field, whether that’s working with USDA or becoming an agriculture lobbyists or even going into the business side of it,” he said, noting he is looking into internships this year as a way to learn more of the inner workings of various ag-related fields.

Hadassah “Haddy” Ingvoldstad, a 2024 Ramona High graduate, is pursuing her agriculture dreams at College of the Ozarks, a private college in Missouri.

Growing up in the Philippines as a missionary’s daughter, Ingvoldstad said, “I felt purposeless in high school; nobody knew who I was,” after moving with her mother to her Ramona hometown.

After “begrudgingly joining FFA” due to her grandfather’s encouragement, she said she gained self confidence.

“I took leadership roles and realized how much I love agriculture and love to teach. Agriculture education is something really needed and something I really love to do,” she said.

Ingvoldstad admitted that working 20 hours a week while taking 17 credits a semester “isn’t without its challenges.

“The world is my oyster and I’m still learning where I can go with my skills and make the world a better place,” she said.

She sees her American FFA Degree as a milestone.

“I didn’t grow up in 4H or agriculture. I worked so hard to get this degree and it was my dream to get it; I feel so accomplished and so glad to have it,” she said.

Wesley Gratzer earned his FFA American Degree by way of Wyotech, a trade school focused on auto and diesel skills in Laramie, Wyoming.

As a diesel mechanic for Lakeshore Disposal in McCall, Idaho, Gratzer said he plans on staying put for a while, “as it’s a little greener up here.”

Having taking small engine classes for three out of his four years at Ramona High, he said he originally thought he might work for a diesel tractor company.

“I didn’t want to go to college after high school, but wanted to fast track into getting a job,” Gratzer said, adding the American FFA Degree helped with that goal.

Through FFA, he was able to enter numerous small engine-based competitions and travel throughout the state.

“In the beginning, I enjoyed learning how it all worked. Later, it was knowing how it worked, and scoring as both an individual and as a team. It’s a sense of accomplishment,” he said.

Gratzer also showed livestock throughout his FFA career, including goats, pigs, a steer and a lamb.

“I want to have livestock again. I think agriculture is a good lifestyle and I’m hoping my trade can help fund it,” he said.

Curtis Martineau, an agriculture teacher at Ramona High, said the students have worked many hours toward their American FFA Degree.

He reminds the students they never know where the degree might lead them.

“What you have in FFA stays near your heart; you earned it, no one handed it to you. And anyone in FFA can achieve the degree,” Martineu said.

The winners will receive a certificate and the American FFA Degree key on Nov. 1 at the 98th National FFA Convention and Expo in Indianapolis, Indiana. For a complete list of 2025 recipients, visit: https://www.ffa.org/awards/2025-american-ffa-degree-recipients/.