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Portal High's Katielyn Yates is new Central Region Area 4 vice president for the Georgia FFA Association
Katielyn Yates

Katielyn Yates, a rising senior at Portal Middle High School, will be the new Central Region Area 4 vice president for the Georgia FFA Association.

According to a release from Bulloch County Schools, Yates was elected by her area FFA peers, Yates will represent members of Portal's National FFA Organization chapter and all other high school chapter members in Area 4. She will help lead large events and promote agriculture and FFA throughout Georgia during the upcoming school year.

As a candidate for the post, Yates and the other candidates had to complete a detailed application and submit a resume. They also had to take a test about FFA facts. During the area awards banquet in May, Yates campaigned and gave a speech to those in attendance.

Students chosen as delegates from each school in the area then voted for their favorite leaders. The adult leaders picked the winners by combining the scores from the application, resume, test and the final vote.

Georgia FFA divides its schools into North, Central and South regions. Each of those three regions has two smaller sections called areas. Yates already has leadership experience in her hometown. She served as the Portal FFA Parliamentarian from 2024 to 2025. She was the chapter president from 2025 to 2026, and members elected her as president again for 2026-2027.

Yates also has earned multiple FFA degrees and honors: Greenhand Degree; Star Greenhand; Chapter Degree; and Chapter Star Farmer; and she placed fourth in the state in the Agricultural Education Career Development Event.

And she holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Outside of the classroom, Yates said she stays busy with her own farming project, which is called a supervised agricultural experience. She raises and shows ​Market and ​Breeding ​lambs and ​goats at shows all over Georgia.

This year, she will care for three sheep and two goats. Yates also shows talent in agricultural competitions, placing fourth in the state for the Agricultural Education career development event this year.

Georgia FFA is a middle and high school student technical organization that helps young people grow into leaders. It uses agricultural education, taught in the school district's Agriculture Education career pathway to help students build confidence and find successful careers.