Tatum Lancaster, a 2026 graduate of Tillamook High School and member of the Tillamook FFA Chapter, has been named a 2026 National FFA
Agricultural Sales – Entrepreneurship Proficiency Award finalist, placing her among the top four FFA members in the nation in the award area. Lancaster earned the recognition through her Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE), Western Grace Floral Co., a floral design business she developed from the ground up. What began as a floral design project in her agricultural education classes at Tillamook High School has grown into a
successful business serving customers throughout the community.
An SAE is a student-led, work-based learning experience that allows agricultural education students to apply classroom learning through a project, job, research experience, or business. Along with classroom instruction and FFA involvement, SAEs are one of the three central components of agricultural education. Through Western Grace Floral Co., Lancaster creates floral designs ranging from corsages and boutonnieres for student dances to full-service wedding florals. As her business has grown, she has developed skills in floral design, customer service, sales, marketing, pricing, purchasing, financial management, and business operations. Lancaster’s experience demonstrates the purpose of an SAE: allowing students to discover a skill or interest and develop it through meaningful, real-world experience. She took a skill first developed at school and turned it into a business with paying customers, increasingly complex projects, and significant responsibility.
The National FFA Agricultural Proficiency Awards recognize FFA members who develop specialized skills and career experience through their SAEs. Applications are evaluated on the growth of a student’s project over time, including skills developed, responsibilities assumed, challenges addressed, records maintained, and progress toward an agricultural career. Students advance through local, district, and state competition before reaching the national level, where only four finalists are selected in each award area.
Lancaster’s selection follows years of developing her floral design and business-management skills, expanding Western Grace Floral Co., and documenting her enterprise’s growth through her FFA record book and proficiency application.
As a national finalist, Lancaster will complete the national interview process in September before traveling to Indianapolis, Indiana, for the 99th National FFA Convention & Expo in October. She will be recognized on the national convention stage before more than 70,000 FFA members and guests, where the 2026 national winner will be announced.
Lancaster’s journey from a classroom floral design project to owning a successful business and becoming one of the nation’s top four FFA members in her proficiency area nationwide demonstrates the opportunities agricultural education provides students to discover their abilities and turn their interests into meaningful career experiences.
Tillamook FFA is proud to have Lancaster represent the chapter, Tillamook High School, the Tillamook community, and Oregon FFA on the national stage.
About the National FFA Organization
The National FFA Organization is a school-based youth leadership organization that prepares members for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. FFA members develop skills through classroom and laboratory instruction, FFA leadership experiences, and work-based learning through Supervised Agricultural Experiences.
About the Tillamook FFA Chapter
The Tillamook FFA Chapter is part of the Agricultural Sciences & Industrial Technology program at Tillamook High School. Through classroom instruction, FFA involvement, and Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs), students develop technical agricultural knowledge, leadership skills, career readiness, and hands-on experience. Tillamook FFA members participate in leadership and career development events, agricultural projects, community service, work-based learning, and local, state, and national FFA opportunities. The chapter works to provide students with experiences that connect what they learn in the classroom to agriculture, careers, and their community. The program was recognized as the National Association of Agricultural Educators Outstanding Program in 2025.
