February of 2014

by Josie Montoney, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

The next monthly FFA meeting will be held on February 17^th at 7:00 P.M. in the Ag Center. This meeting will be when the 2015-2016 officer team is elected! The Ag Challenge for this meeting will be a scavenger hunt.

Upcoming Events

Ag Breakfast: The next monthly Ag Breakfast will be held on Friday, February 6^th at 6:15 A.M. at Tee Jaye’s. Ag breakfast is an excellent opportunity for members and their parents to bond over great food!

Ag Sales CDE: Students are beginning to prepare for the Ag Sales CDE. This contest includes a multiple-choice general knowledge test, a sales demonstration, and multiple practicums. Members of this year’s team are: Sydney Stinson, Adrian Wymer, Kayla Luft, and Alek Doss.

Top Fall Fund Raiser’s Trip: From February 13^th through the 15^th, members who sold the most fruit and flower bulbs will be able to go on the Top Fall Fund Raiser’s Trip to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the National Farm Machinery Show and Tractor Pulls, as well as to attend multiple tours. This trip is an educational reward to members who sold 25 or more boxes or baskets of fruit this fall.

Public Speaking: On February 3^rd, four members from the Chapter will be participating in the Public Speaking contest at the County level at Liberty Union High School. 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. This year, Emma Dearth is participating in Creed, Lexie Kougher is participating in Beginning Prepared, Samantha Young is participating in the Prepared Contest, and Josie Montoney is participating in the Extemporaneous Speaking category. Good luck!

212° Leadership Conference: On Saturday, February 21^st through Sunday, February 22^nd members from our chapter will attend the 212º Leadership Conference hosted at Union Local High School. FFA members from around Ohio are invited to attend, and members spend most of Saturday working with the National FFA Staff going through leadership workshops. Since this is a lock-in activity, members will also get to participate in a multitude of activities, such as laser tag, square dancing, bubble soccer, card games, ice cream social, etc. throughout the night. This conference will give FFA members the opportunity to learn new leadership skills, work together as a team, and to meet members from different skills. The deadline for this is February 6^th.

Degrees: Three upperclassmen, Adrian Wymer, Devon Mullen and Sydney Stinson, are applying for the State FFA Degree. This is the highest degree a state can award an FFA member. Also, three graduate members, Nick Brumfield, Katerina Sharp and Rachel Stoneburner are applying for the American FFA Degree. This is the highest FFA degree and members are even eligible to apply until they have graduated high school. We would like to wish these members good luck with their advanced degree applications.

Proficiency Awards: Second, third and fourth year members have the opportunity to apply for proficiency awards if they meet minimum qualifications. Proficiency awards are based on a members’ SAE project(s). The following members have applied in various proficiency award categories: Katerina Sharp, Rachel Stoneburner, Kaylee Reed, Devon Mullen, Nelson Craycraft, Susan Householder, Desirae Logsdon and James Smith.

Past Happenings

Degrees: During the January meeting, the chapter awarded 58 degrees to members. A majority of these were the Greenhand FFA Degrees. Recipients of this degree were: Cassie Brewer, Shalyn Brown, Delaney Chester, Hailey Clark, Emma Dearth, Chandler Doersam, Sarah Doner, Garret Drake, Jalynn Fausnaugh, Jacob Green, Mattie Grace Hamilton, Chrystal Harvey, Mikayla Hicks, Trent Holbrook, Jacob Hudson, Triston Hutchinson, Eryn Jones, Cole Kleinline, Maya Knox, Lydia Lafferty, Riley McClure, Maggie Mettler, Michael Montoney, Elinor Paskins, Tyler Perkins, Carle Pieratt, Megan Porter, Kris Ryan, Vance Sharp, Avery Smith, Noah Smith, Tierra Tooill, Seth Turner, Katie Vickroy, Ashlynne Wells, Becca Woida and Dominick Zuck.

For members who had received their Greenhand FFA Degrees the year before, they could then go onto to obtain their Chapter FFA Degree. Members who received their Chapter FFA Degree this year were: Keaton Baldwin, Mitch Cassley, Chris Conrad, Kylie Friesner, Rachel Hizey, Lexie Kougher, Billy L’Huiller, Killian Lott, Corey Mullins, Joce Palombo, Cody Roark, Mallory Seitz, Austin Shannon, Austin J. Smith, Seth Stephenson, Sarah Streets, Ellie Tipple, Dylan Warga, and Samantha Young. Congratulations to our degree recipients!

Ag Breakfast: The January Ag Breakfast was held at IHOP in Lancaster and had an excellent turn-out! As always, it was a great opportunity for members to bond and start off the day with a good breakfast.