February 2002Newsletter

by Rachel Makarius,Reporter

Next Meeting - The next meeting of the A-C FFA Chapter will be onFebruary 29th. The Ag Challenge activity is a marshmallow stuffingcontest.

At the January meeting, the Junior class wonthe Ag Challenge, which was a feed bag hold. Brandy Saum andJustin Olney were the Junior class representatives.

Chapter FFA Degrees - Fifteen members from the A-C FFA Chapter wereawarded their Chapter Degrees at the January FFA meeting.Ohio FFA PresidentMindy Dye spoke to thechapter about taking advantage of all the opportunities that the FFAhas to offer, and about looking beyond the obvious.

The Chapter Degree is the highest degree achapter can award its members. To earn it, a member must havepreviously: earned their Greenhand FFA Degree, completed 2 years ofAg Ed, have a satisfactory Supervised Agricultural Experienceprogram, and given a 10-15 minute speech over anagriculturally-related topic in their Ag class.

Those members receiving the Chapter FFADegree were: Ashlee Brown, BrianBussert, Holly Edwards, Jennifer Evans, Christina Gierhart, CalvinHanes, Marshall Johnson, Travis Kiser, Emilee Klamfoth, MalloryMcMaster, Danielle Middleton, Meagan Silva, Martina Stanley, WhitneyTurner, and Jennifer Zaayer.

These sophomores received the silver ChapterFFA Degree pin, which will replace the bronze Greenhand FFA Degreepin on their FFA jacket.

Upcoming CDE's

Public Speaking

-Creed Speaking: During this contest,members must recite the five paragraphs of the FFA Creed from memory,and then answer questions about its meaning and purpose. (Forfreshman members only)

-Beginning Prepared: Typically for freshmanand sophomores. In this CDE, you write and deliver a six to eightminute speech about a current agricultural subject. Participants arescored on their written speech, their speech delivery, and theiranswers to the judges' questions about their topic.

-Senior Prepared: Basically the same asbeginning prepared, except there is more competition and the judgesmay be tougher. This contest is typically for juniors andseniors

-Extemporaneous: During this contest,contestants are given an agriculturally-related topic when theyarrive, and then have 30 minutes to research and prepare a speech.After they deliver their speech, the judges may ask them questionsabout it.

Job Interview

Participants in this contest submit aresume, complete a job application, and participate in an interviewwith a panel of possible employers.

Agricultural Sales

This CDE demonstrates the professional salesprocess, which includes customer relations, advertising andpromotion, telephone skills, and product display. In this contest,members complete a 50-question test, present a project summary, andmake a sales display and present their product proposal to judges asif they were trying to sell it.

Blue and Gold Benefit -The Blue and Gold Benefit is thebanquet fundraiser for the Ohio FFA Foundation, which supplies all ofthe awards given to FFA members at the District and State levels. Itwas held on Saturday, Jan. 26th at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.

Twelve members from the A-C FFA Chapter wentwith Mr. Sharp and Mr. Tilley to help out with the banquet. Theywere: Brian Bussert, Rusty Harvey,Travis Kiser, Beth Fouse, Jimmie Bivens, Randall Miller, Brian Hill,Crish Alvey, Skyler Baldwin, Christian Hoffman, and RockEdgington. Also, 4 members from theBloom-Carroll FFA Chapter helped with the dinner by serving, cleaningup, and helping with the silent auction.

MFE Conference - Jace Spires andJennifer Bennett attended the Made for Excellence Conference at theHiatt Hotel on Jan. 26-27. MFE is an overnight leadership conferencefor FFA members, where members learn about leadership andcommunication skills, and how to resolve problems within theirchapter.
Power Show - The A-C FFA went to the Power Show on Jan. 27th tosell raffle tickets for a John Deere Gator to benefit the Ohio FFAFoundation. Mallory McMaster, RandallMiller, Holly Edwards, Amber Hedrick, Mark Francis, and JohnNoll all helped out with thisactivity. On this Sunday alone, these members were able to sell over$1200 worth of tickets.
2002 Officer Elections- Officer elections are held eachyear during the February meeting. Any sophomore or junior who hasobtained their chapter degree is eligible to be a chapter officer. Wewould like to encourage all members eligible to run for an office, asit is a very rewarding experience. If you are interested, pleasecontact Mr. Tilley ASAP for more information.
Paper Drive - At the January meeting, the chapter voted to hold apaper drive during the month of February and donate the proceeds ofthe drive to Children's Hospital. Members are asked to bring into theold shop any old newspapers, making sure that they are somehowbundled with twine or put into a paper bag. Community members canalso drop off paper at the old shop door, which is down the alleynext to the new gym entrance.