February 2005Newsletterby Heather Hines, Reporter
FFA MeetingThe February FFA meetingwill be held on Monday, February 14th. It will start at 7:00 p.m.This will be the last meeting for the 2004-05-officer team. At thismeeting, the 2005-06-officer team will be elected and installed. Thedetails will be in the March newsletter.
Ag BreakfastDuring the school year,the Amanda-Clearcreek FFA meets once monthly for the chapter's "AgBreakfast". The members vote on a location each meeting for thefollowing month. Members meet at the decided upon location at 6:30a.m. on the first Thursday of the month for breakfast and socialinteraction. Ag breakfasts are excellent opportunities for members toget to know each other better and get a nourishing meal to start theday. But, with the weather being so unpredictable if on the day weare supposed to have Ag breakfast we are delayed Ag breakfast will bepostponed to a later date.The next Ag Breakfast willbe held on Feb 3rd.
National Farm MachineryShow TripIn the fall of each year,the Amanda-Clearcreek FFA chapter holds it's annual Fall Fruit Sale.As an incentive, any member who sells 25 or more of any combinationof fruit gift baskets or boxes of fruit has the opportunity to attendthe National Farm Machinery Show and Tractor Pulls held annually inLouisville, Kentucky in February. Attending members leave on Fridaymorning and return on Sunday evening, attending the machinery show,the tractors pulls and enjoy Louisville's hospitality. Each year, Mr.Sharp, one of the chapter's two advisors, also plans an educationaltour for the weekend in addition to the other activities. In pastyears, the chapter has visited the Louisville Slugger Plant,Churchhill Downs and the Dayton Airforce Museum. This is an excellenteducational opportunity for the chapter's members and a great rewardfor those hard working fruit sellers. This year, the members will betaking educational trips such as Newport Aquarium, a museum dedicatedto General Patton, and they will also be taking in a movie as well asstopping at a flea market on the way home.
National FFAWeekNational FFA Week is aweek in February dedicated to recognize the FFA. FFA Chapters havetheir students participate in various activities that relate toagriculture and the FFA throughout the week. Some of the activitiesour chapter has done are: FFA Shirt Day, Official Dress Day, TeacherAppreciation Day, Bib Day, Truck & Tractor Day, and Ag AwarenessDay. This year, the days are as follows: Tuesday overalls/bib day,Wednesday official dress day along with, teacher appreciation day,Thursday is FFA T-shirt, day, and Friday is truck and tractor day.National FFA Week is from Feb. 21st to Feb. 25th.
Officer BookAwardsThree chapter officers arerequired to compile a book as part of their officer duties. Thoseoffices are: Secretary, Treasurer and Reporter.The Secretary is requiredto keep a notebook that contains, among other things, the chapterminutes, officer reports, committee reports, meeting attendance andactivity attendance. Treasurer's are required to assemble a notebookof all chapter financial records, including reports for majorfundraisers, and a copy of student receipts. The Reporter's Scrapbookcontains all chapter newsletters, published articles, and chaptersnapshots. This is a major job for the officer and their book isevaluated each year at the district level. Those officers receiving aGold Rating are recognized at the State FFA Convention in May.
ProficiencyAwardsProficiency awards arebased upon a member's Supervised Agricultural Experience Project(s).Applicants must complete and submit their project books and adetailed application. Project books are evaluated for accuracy andneatness, while also being evaluated other things such as thedescription of skills learned, supporting pictures, etc. Currentlyeach February, applications are reviewed for accuracy at the Districtlevel and submitted to the State level for further evaluation andplacing. Those applicants deemed to be in the top few (generally thetop four) in the state in their respective area are then interviewed.From these final applicants, three are then selected as the top threein the state, receiving their final placing and award plaques at theState FFA Convention in May.
Chapter FFADegreeThe Chapter FFA Degree isthe highest degree a chapter can award one of it's members. Thisyear, the following students were awarded their Chapter FFA Degree:Jennifer Adams, Josh Ayers,Adam Baldwin, Ben Ball, Dustin Baxter, Ashley Bevard, Emiley Bolin,Christine Boso, Tiffany Brown, Kayleigh Brubach, Christine Bussert,Jessica Caisse, Dana Clayton, Cortney Collins, Crystal Covell,Courtney Cox, Seth Curtis, Bobbi Edwards, T.J. Hines, Shaelyn Iles,Ashley Lamb, Brittany Manson, Lacey Price, Stacey Sams, AprilSenften, Dustan Timmons,and Megan Underhill.
Ag Sales CDEThe Ag Sales team placed4th in the district. The team consisted of Shaelyn Iles placing 3rd, Brittany Manson placing 16th, Jessie Berisford placing 19th, and Skyler Baldwin placing 18th.
Job InterviewCDEThe students whoparticipated in the Job Interview were: Heather Hines placing 2nd in the Ag Business category andSkylerBaldwin placing 5th in theAg Production category.Congratulations to allCDE participants.