CAZENOVIA — Last week, Henry Stocks, a first grader at Burton Street Elementary School, presented checks to Cazenovia High School students to cover four tuitions to the Future Farmers of America’s (FFA) Camp Oswegatchie.
The National FFA Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in students’ lives by developing their potential for leadership, personal growth, and career success through agricultural education. Located on 1200 acres of wooded land in the Adirondacks, Camp Oswegatchie reinforces those goals while enabling kids to create positive memories and forge friendships.
Stocks raised the camp tuition money by selling “The Henry Project” (THP) t-shirts and hats to support the FFA and give back to his community.
The brainchild of photographer Robert Ketcham, THP is a long-term photographic documentation of Stocks growing up on a small farm in New Woodstock.
The four “campership” recipients are members of the high school’s Aggies FFA club. They applied for the funding by submitting a paragraph to THP describing why they want to attend Camp Oswegatchie this summer.
“We were going to originally fund three students, but four applied,” said Ketcham. “THP decided that they were all worthy and deserving of the award, so we offered to fund the fourth. The Caz FFA advisor and members agreed to pay the deposits, and THP would cover the rest for all four.”
According to Aggies FFA Advisor Mandi Millen, a total of eight of the club’s approximately 30 members are planning to attend Camp Oswegatchie the same week this summer.
Unfortunately, Millen noted, several FFA members who show dairy cattle won’t be able to attend that camp session because they have a show that week.
Six-year-old Stocks presented the tuition checks on April 17 outside Cazenovia High School’s agriculture classroom. He was accompanied by his parents, Bryan Stocks and Sarah Stocks, Ph.D., who are both agriculture professionals.
Bryan is the senior director of membership with Dairy Farmers of America, and Sarah is a technical services manager at Novus International, an animal nutrition company.
Before the check presentation, Bryan expressed that he is looking forward to his son getting the opportunity to join the FFA and attend Camp Oswegatchie when he is old enough.
“Ensuring that FFA exists within the Cazenovia school district for Henry when he gets to that age is one of those things that is very important to us,” Bryan said. “With budgets and stuff this year, I was very nervous as to the future [of the club], but luckily it sounds like things are going to be okay. [I was] in 4-H — they didn’t have FFA in my high school — and I think these programs are important to teach leadership as well as teach agriculture to kids who grew up in [it] or even kids who have no clue what ag is but want a better understanding of where their food comes from.”
Bryan added that he had the opportunity to spend a few days at Camp Oswegatchie last fall and see its “magic.”
“We are excited that you guys will be able to experience that as well,” he said. “I know you will come away from there with even more friends and develop skills and leadership qualities that you will carry on for the rest of your lives.”
The Henry Project
Ketcham has been photographing Stocks since he was five years old.
THP follows the young farmer as he cares for and shows cattle, completes his daily chores, and engages in other aspects of life on the family farm, which is home to both Simmental beef cattle and horses.
The photographer said he first heard about the Stocks family and their farm through a friend he met while briefly attending Cazenovia High School in 1978/79.
According to Ketcham, the friend, who still lives in Cazenovia, recounted a memorable interaction she had with Stocks on Christmas Eve when he was five.
“She arrived with an armload of presents and was asked by Henry, ‘What’s in the box?’” Ketcham said. “She replied, ‘Your presents, let’s go open them!’ Henry responded, as he pulled on his boots and gloves, ‘Nope, I am going to the barn to do my chores,’ and he proceeded out the door to tend the cows and horses. Hearing this story and details about Henry’s work ethic and dedication to ag life . . . got me thinking about a long-term documentation of this boy as he grows and faces the challenges of youth, farming, and cattle shows, to see where his interests take him. I want to photograph the wins and losses, watch the changes and growth, and see the reality of growing up in a small town in today’s world. This project is a time capsule of this boy’s life, but it’s also a broader story about youth in agriculture.”
Today, Stocks is a grand champion showman who proudly shows his cattle across New York State, including at the NYS Fair.
Stocks said his favorite part of living on a farm is showing and caring for his cows. When asked to name his least favorite farm chore, he responded, “I like to do all of them.”
Outside of farm life, Stocks does a variety of activities, including hockey, soccer, karate, and swimming lessons.
Ketcham, who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said that to continue telling Stocks’ story through his photographs, he tries to visit Cazenovia at least once a month or meet Stocks and his family at cattle shows during the summer.
“Sharing Henry’s story is important because he may be the future of farming in America,” Ketcham said in an April 3 THP press release. “Or not. However his story plays out, Henry is a thoughtful, sensitive, and motivated boy with the world at his feet. I, for one, can’t wait to see where his journey takes him.”
Follow THP on Instagram @just_a_boy_and_his_cows.
According to Ketcham, a few THP t-shirts and Carhartt baseball caps are still available and can be ordered via Instagram or Facebook. The money will help fund Camp Oswegatchie tuitions.
To learn more about Ketcham and his work, visit rjketchamphotography.com.
For information on Camp Oswegatchie, visit oswegatchiecamp.com.
