The sophomores, juniors and seniors are part of the school's Future Famers of America program and were downtown to be recognized by Councilmember Tyler Maxwell.
"Future Famers of America is an amazing organization that gives young people, students in high school, opportunities and tools that they need to get involved with agriculture," Maxwell said.
Students in any FFA program can be easily identified by their competition jacket.
But some students from Pershing didn't have jackets of their own.
"Our chapter has about 20 jackets of various sizes, both boy sizes and girl sizes," Agriculture teacher Collin Parker said. "And so they would borrow that from the chapter, but they had to return it."
That changed Thursday, when Maxwell, in partnership with the Central Unified School District, gave each of the 10 students a jacket to keep.
"We wanted them to have personalized jackets so that they continue to be proud of the work that they do, continue to be proud of our agricultural roots here in the city of Fresno and wanted them to have something special to take home," Maxwell said.
Students like Jenixza De Jesus wasted no time in putting it on.
"It's my first year, and having my name engraved in a jacket feels amazing," De Jesus said.
Jenixza says that joining FFA has been transformative for her by teaching her public speaking skills and helping her break out of her shell.
"Learning more about FFA has helped me make more friends, learn more about FFA and personally just improving my speech," De Jesus said.
She and other students have created a school nursery, planted fruit trees and have turned an unused warehouse into a woodshop.
Agriculture Teacher Collin Parker says they are one of only two continuation schools in the state with a comprehensive FFA program.
He hopes students having their own jackets will bring them a sense of belonging.
"The FFA jacket has just been a symbol of what they've learned, what they've experienced in FFA, so the fact that our students get to keep that is just absolutely huge," Parker said.
The students will get to wear their personalized jackets at a few upcoming events, as well as at the FFA Conference in Sacramento in April.
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