Written by Keira Sieber, MUAHS Reporter
During the 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show, Mount Union Area High School senior Zakheila Trice was recognized by Future Farmers of America for earning her Keystone Degree.
Trice serves as the vice president for Mount Union’s FFA chapter, known as Captain Jack FFA. This is Trice’s fourth year as a member of Captain Jack FFA and her third year serving in an officer position.
When Trice first applied to be a club officer, she had no idea how much FFA would change her life. “When I was a freshman towards the end of the year, I applied for any officer position just to keep me busy throughout the next school year, I hadn’t known that making that decision would change the way I went about my days and how it had helped me find what I wanted to do for my career.” said Trice while discussing how FFA has impacted her.
Trice says her favorite part of FFA is “being able to connect with people when we have conferences or overnight stays and learning more about the FFA world.” She also says, “I do not think there is anything I do not like about FFA.”
The Keystone Degree is the highest honor presented at the Pennsylvania Farm Show by FFA and requires a long list of qualifications and accomplishments. Students hoping to receive the Keystone Degree must have received their Greenhand and Chapter Degrees, completed at least two years of agriculture classes, serve as a chapter officer, completed a minimum of 25 hours of community service and numerous other accomplishments in and out of the classroom.
As part of the requirements to receive her Keystone Degree, Trice chose to show a goat at the Huntingdon County Fair. To prepare for the show, Trice, along with her friends, had to practice walking her goat many times. She said, “it was not easy at first with the goats planting their feet and refusing to move but after some time we got the hang of it, but the hard work that we did was for something we wanted.”
When asked what earning her Keystone Degree means to her, Trice said “This award means that I am excelling in something that I love doing. It is something that I can be proud of doing.”
Earning the Keystone Degree also means that Trice can work on earning the American Degree, this is the highest degree in FFA, following her graduation. Some advice Trice has for future Keystone Degree winners is “Getting your keystone degree takes time and effort, but the time and effort put into getting it pays off and can lead to many things.”