March of 2014

by Josie Montoney, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

March Meeting

The next monthly FFA meeting will take place on Monday, March 17^th at 7:00 P.M. in the ag center. The Ag challenge for this meeting is a volleyball tournament. Members will be divided up into their classes, and the freshmen will play the sophomores while the juniors play the seniors, followed by a champion match between the winners.

Upcoming Events

Ag Breakfast: The next Ag. Breakfast will be held at Tee Jaye’s on March 7^th at 6:15 A.M. All members are highly encouraged to come and have a chance to eat good food, bond and socialize.

Young Leaders Conference: On March 7^th, members of our chapter will be going up to the Young Leaders Conference at the Ohio State University. This event will be a fantastic opportunity where members will develop leadership and communication skills through teaching skills, meet and greets with experts in the agricultural field, and a career fair. Attendees from our chapter will be: Killian Lott, Makinzie Garee, Kassidy McClure, Samantha Young, Lillianna Seifert, Haley Bigham, Courtney Smith, Sydney Stinson, Josie Montoney, Emmy Hollar, Adrian Wymer, Devon Mullen, Austin Stai, Kayla Luft, Kaylee Reed, and Susan Householder.

Upcoming Contests:

General Livestock CDE: This contest focuses on members’ ability to judge four common meat animals: beef cattle, swine, sheep, and goats. Participants are split into groups, with each group getting a species class to judge. Members rank the animals from the best specimen to the poorest, and then answer questions pertaining to certain ones. They also take a written test, which covers things such as pedigrees, gestation periods, carcass weights, calculations, reading charts, etc. This year’s team consists of: Katie Krile, Carlie Krile, Chris Conrad, Desirae Logsdon, James Smith, Keaton Baldwin, Austin Shannon, Dustin Bresler, Sydney Stinson, and Aubrey Meenach.

Ag Skills Mechanics CDE: This contest consists of three members who must demonstrate multiple mechanical tasks pertaining to welding, brazing, and wiring. The top two district teams will advance to state. The team consists of: Tyler Smith, Austin Shannon, and Cody Roark.

Poultry CDE: This contest tests students’ understanding of the poultry industry. It consists of a test, identification of meat cuts, candling eggs, judging live birds, judging processed patties and judging carcasses. A chapter can enter an unlimited number of members, and the top three scores will make up the teams scores. This year’s team consists of: Johnny Lemaster, Susan Householder, Brandon Wilson, and Cordell Young.

Nature Interpretation CDE: Participants of this contest will be tested over their knowledge of equipment ID, mammal pelt and skull ID, songbirds, reptiles, amphibians, and non-wood plants in the form of a written test, pictures, and actual items. In addition, they will have two practicum’s to complete, which will be either attracting wildlife, determining water quality, or controlling problem plants and animals. The Nature Interpretation team is made up of: Katerina Sharp, Haley Bigham, Adrian Wymer, Kayla Luft, Layla Renner, and Trevor Young.

Wildlife Management CDE: The Wildlife Management CDE is very similar to the Nature Interpretation CDE, as they both have to identify equipment and mammal pelts and skulls. In addition, Wildlife Management participants must also be able to identify game birds, fish, and cover plants instead of reptiles, amphibians, and songbirds. As with Nature Interpretation, they are tested through an online test, written test, pictures, and actual items. They have two practicum’s, which will be either understanding pond management, determining habitat management requirements, or identifying game laws and safety. Members of this year’s team are: Matt Timmons, Brad Notestone, Josh Metzon, Josie Montoney, Ashley Pritchard, Devon Boyer, and Cody Gallant.

Agronomy CDE: The Agronomy CDE is a contest which judges members’ knowledge and understanding of the crop industry. Members must be able to ID crops and weeds by their seeds, leaves, or whole plant, ID insect pests, and take a multiple choice. This years team consists of: Dylan Mullen, Devon Mullen, Austin J. Smith, Rachel Stoneburner, Maddie Helser, and Kaylee Reed.

Equine Management CDE: The Equine Management CDE tests students’ knowledge of the equine industry through a test, judging of a class of horses, tack ID, poisonous weeds ID, forage ID, and hay judging. This year’s team is made up of: Emmy Hollar, Hannah Robinson, Kassidy McClure, Joce Palombo, Ellie Tipple, Mary Schmelzer, Lexie Kougher, Rachel Hizey, Brianna Green, and Izzy Lytle.

Past Happenings

Ag Breakfast: On February 7^th, our chapter held its monthly Ag. Breakfast at Tee Jaye’s. This is one of the fun events our chapter does that lets members eat and socialize.

Top Fall Fundraiser’s Trip: On February 14^th through the 16^th, 27 members from our chapter went on a trip to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the National Farm Machinery Show and Tractor Pull, as well as going on several tours and walking around the trade show. This trip was to reward members who sold 25 or more boxes or baskets of fruit while still providing them with a fun, educational trip. This trip was chaperoned by Janet Householder, Jennifer Dodson, Chrissy Poling, Brittany Pinkstock, who is an A-C FFA alumni member, and Mr. Stimmel, who is Mr. Sharp’s student teacher. The members who attended this trip were: Susan Householder, Mallory Seitz, Katerina Sharp, Ben Slykerman, Devon Mullen, Alek Doss, Katie Krile, Shayla Morrison, Kaylee Reed, Adrian Wymer, Dylan Mullen, Cody Gallant, Joce Palombo, Carlie Krile, Josh Metzon, Austin Stai, Nelson Craycraft, Maddie Colburn, Desirae Logsdon, Sydney Stinson, Austin J. Smith, Cody Roark, Garret Smith, Shelby Humphreys, Rachel Stoneburner, and Ashley Pritchard.

National FFA Week: National FFA Week took place from Monday, February 17^th to Friday, February 21^st. FFA Week is used to recognize the many accomplishments that the FFA has made over the years and to show those who aren’t involved what FFA is truly about. Our Student Development Committee decided on a set of activities that our chapter would participate in to celebrate this event. This years schedule was:

Monday – FFA Shirt Day

Tuesday – Blue and Gold Day, FFA Lunch

Wednesday – Truck and Tractor Day, Camo Day

Thursday – Agricultural Shirt Day, Game Night and Dodge Ball

Friday – FFA Jacket and Official Dress Day

The winning team of the Dodge Ball Tournament consisted of: Johnny Lemaster, Cole Genders, Mitch Cassley, Alek Doss, Allen Reed, and Alex Reed.

212º Leadership Conference: On Saturday, February 22^nd through Sunday, February 23^rd members from our chapter attended the 212º Leadership Conference hosted at Union Local High School. FFA members from around Ohio were invited to attend, where members spent most of Saturday working with the National FFA Staff going through leadership workshops. Since this was a lock-in activity, members also got to participate in a multitude of activities, such as dodge ball, line dancing, tug-of-war, card games, basketball, etc. throughout the night. This conference gave FFA members the opportunity to learn new leadership skills, work together as a team, and to meet members from different skills. Members that attended the conference this year were: Keaton Baldwin, Haley Bigham, Samantha Elder, Ashley Eveland, Susan Householder, Kassidy McClure, Josh Metzon, Devon Mullen, Kaylee Reed, Hannah Robinson, Malory Seitz, Austin J. Smith, Austin Stai, Shaylyn Stai, Sydney Stinson, Sarah Streets, Ellie Tipple, A.J. Wymer, and Adrian Wymer.

Job Interview: On February 12^th, our chapter sent four members to participate in the District 7 Job Interview CDE. The Job Interview Contest is designed to test a student’s ability to prepare a resume, write a follow-up letter, and interview for a mock employment opportunity. There are five categories within the contest, which are Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, and first year Junior or Senior. Austin J. Smith participated in the Freshman category, placing 5^th, Devon Mullen participated in the Junior category, placing 1^st, Katie Krile participated in the Senior category, placing 1^st, and Mary Schmelzer participated in the first year Junior or Senior category, placing 4^th. Since Katie and Devon both placed first in their respective categories, they will be going to compete at the State contest on March 1^st. Good luck to Katie and Devon!

Public Speaking: There are currently four public speaking areas offered by the Ohio FFA Association. Creed Speaking is a contest available to only freshmen, who recite the FFA Creed and then answer a series of questions about the Creed following their presentation. The Beginning Prepared area is designed mostly for sophomore students who present a 5 to 7 minute speech over any agricultural topic of their choosing, which is followed by answering questions from the judges. The Prepared Speaking contest, often referred to as ‘Senior Prepared’, is open to members in all four grade levels, but is more geared towards Junior or Senior student, who must create and present a 6 to 8 minute speech on any agricultural topic, and then answer questions from a panel of judges. The fourth area is Extemporaneous Speaking, where speakers from any of the four grade levels draw an agricultural topic and have 30 minutes to develop a four to six minute speech from materials they have brought with them and personal knowledge. On February 5^th, our chapter sent four members to Liberty Union to compete in the County contest, where Layla Renner placed 1^st in Creed, Samantha Young placed 1^st in Beginning Prepared, Josie Montoney placed 1^st in Senior Prepared, and Kaylee Reed placed 4^th in Extemporaneous. Layla, Samantha, and Josie then moved on to participate in the District 7 contest on February 19^th, where Layla placed 3^rd, Samantha placed 1^st, and Josie also placed 1^st. The top two from every category advance to the state contest, so Samantha and Josie will participate in the State contest on March 8^th. Congratulations to all participants, and good luck to Samantha and Josie.

Proficiency Awards: For a member to be eligible to fill out a proficiency award, their SAE project must first be Ag. related. They must then fill out a strenuous application and turn in their completed project book(s) and their general record book. These will be judged in the district and the top 4 in each category will on to the state. Member who make it to state will then have to complete a project book and an interview at the Ohio state FFA Convention in the spring. This takes a lot of extra time and effort, and it is a massive accomplishment for a member’s proficiency award to be in the top 4 in the state. The following members have completed their proficiency award applications: Katerina Sharp, Katie Krile, Rachel Stoneburner, Dylan Wamsley, Kaylee Reed, Johnny Lemaster, Devon Mullen, Desirae Logsdon, Susan Householder, and Dylan Mullen.

Officer Books: Throughout the year, as the chapter officers complete their miscellaneous duties, they accumulate a large amount of information. There are three offices that require a completed book: Secretary, Treasurer, and Reporter. The Secretary’s book, which was completed by Susan Householder, consists of all of the chapter’s correspondence, meeting notes, members’ attendance, etc. The Treasurer’s book, which was completed by Kaylee Reed, has records of all of the receipts and disbursements our chapter has made over the course of the year. The Reporter’s book, which was completed by Katerina Sharp, contains pictures from all the various event or chapter partakes in, newsletters, news releases, etc. These books require a tremendous amount of work, and in the past all officers have earned a gold rating. This year was no exception, with all three officers earning not only gold ratings, but also perfect scores!

New FFA Officers: Congratulations to the new 2014-2015 Amanda-Clearcreek FFA Officer Team, which was elected at the February FFA meeting. They are:

President – Devon Mullen Vice-President – Adrian Wymer

Secretary – Susan Householder Treasurer – Sydney Stinson

Reporter – Josie Montoney Sentinel – Austin Stai

Student Advisor – Kaylee Reed

A-C FFA Awards Banquet: On May 10^th, our chapter will be holding its annual awards banquet. Don’t forget to mark your calendars!