California FFA
One platform carries California FFA — 103,000 members, hundreds of schools, and the educators behind them.
California FFA is one of the largest agricultural education organizations in the country, a student-led association embedded in California's school-based agricultural education program and serving members and teachers in hundreds of schools statewide. Aero rebuilt calaged.org from the ground up, unifying member data, event registration, and educator tools on a single system the program's team runs day to day.
Too many systems for one statewide program
As California FFA grew, so did the systems around it. The legacy calaged.org had accumulated overlapping tools for member data, event signups, resources, and teacher workflows, and the seams showed: performance was inconsistent, interfaces had aged, and too much of the daily work was manual. Educators spent time working around the platform instead of through it, and students found core tasks like conference registration and eligibility checks harder than they needed to be. A program operating at this scale needed one system that could hold all of it.
Registration, records, and resources for a statewide program.
The new calaged.org is a custom Drupal build shaped around how the program actually operates, from first-year students to regional administrators. California FFA's team manages it directly, with Aero supporting the platform as needs evolve. Day to day, that means:
Register for events
Students sign up for conferences and leadership events across the state, including a State Leadership Conference that draws more than 7,000 members and guests.
Track records and credentials
Educators and advisors manage student records, event participation, and credential tracking from dashboards built around their workflows.
Run applications and deadlines
Awards, scholarships, and degree applications move through a structured application program, with deadlines published where students and teachers actually look.
Equip teachers
Curriculum, professional development, and program management resources give agriculture teachers a working library they return to throughout the year.
Sync with program data
The platform connects to the third-party databases the program depends on, so eligibility checks and member information stay current.
Support the Foundation
Donors, sponsors, and alumni reach the California FFA Foundation's giving programs on the same site, from award sponsorships to annual campaigns.
A foundation the program can keep building on.
California FFA has been preparing agricultural leaders for close to a century, and the program keeps expanding what it offers students, from new leadership conferences to a growing catalog of awards and applications. The platform was built for that trajectory. Its architecture reduces manual work, supports real-time updates, and gives the administrative team a stable base to extend rather than a system to fight. As the program adds its next event, its next application cycle, its next generation of members, calaged.org is set up to carry the weight.
The professionalism, creativity and commitment to executing the larger vision of our site has made working with Aero a dream. As a novice in website building, I’ve been exceedingly grateful to work with Aero; they’re patient teachers and have helped us elevate our site into a place we had only dreamed of.
