Summer of 2015

by Mallory Seitz, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

The next FFA meeting will be on August 24, 2015 in the Ag. Center at 7:00 P.M. This will be the first meeting of the 2015-2016 school year.

Upcoming Events

Ag. Breakfast: The June Ag. Breakfast will be on June 5^th at Frisches, the July breakfast will be on July 1^st at Bob Evans (both in Lancaster) and the August Ag. Breakfast will be August 4^th at the Laurelville Diner. All Ag. Breakfasts will be at 8:00 A.M.

Greenhouse Work Days: Students will come to the greenhouse a few days during the summer and work to prepare it for the fall. Dates will be announced at a later time. Read your texts!

Misc. Work Days: A few days this summer students who signed up will be able to come in the summer and clean up the work shop and get it organized for the upcoming year. Students will also help clean up the Ag. Center and work on the forklift.

A-C Alumni Banquet: The A-C Alumni Banquet will be held on June 6^th at 6 P.M. in the cafetorium. Members have been asked to help set up and collect food for this event. Students’ who signed up to set up will need to report to the cafetorium at 9 A.M. on Friday, June 5^th. FFA members who are helping Saturday are strongly encouraged to wear an FFA shirt. There are two shifts Saturday night are at 5:00 P.M. and at 7:00 P.M. Students who signed-up will get a reminder text for these two days.

Amanda Litter Clean-Up Day: The clean-up day will be on June 5^th. Those who signed up will need to be at the Ag. Center at 11:00 A.M. Members will pick up trash along the Amanda Bike Path and possibly other areas in Amanda. This event should be finished by 1:00 P.M. if not sooner. A general reminder will be sent to the whole chapter you didn’t need to sign-up for this event.

Summer Trap Shoot: The summer trap shoot will be held at Mr. Sharp’s home on June 30^th at 5:00 P.M. Students will be able to shoot or just hang out with friends and have a good time. The address is 9480 Thomas Hill Road and costs $5; pop, chips, hot dogs and other food will be provided. This event usually lasts a few hours. Please bring shotgun and appropriate ammunition. Those that signed-up will get a reminder text.

Thad Davis Memorial 5K Run/Walk: Our chapter has been asked to help out with the A-C Alumni Thad Davis Memorial 5K Run/Walk again this year on June 20^th. Members will be helping with registration, check in, traffic control, finish line duties and much more. Those who signed up will need to be in the front of the school at 6:45 A.M. and it should be finished by 9:15 A.M. and the ones who have signed up for the second shift will need to be in front of the school at 9:15 A.M. and should be done by noon.

Summer Tour: This year we will be conducting an Ag Industry tour on Monday, August 10^th. Tour sites are yet to be announced. Students will need to bring money for lunch, and need to be at school at 9:00 A.M. The members will receive texts this summer with info.

Ohio FFA Leadership Camp: This year OLC is going to be June 19^th, 20^th, 21^st, and 22^nd. This camp is much like the FFA Camp that students go to in the summer, but a smaller group of students and with an emphasis on developing better leadership skills. Those currently attending are: Dylan Mullen, Kaylee Reed, Billy L’Huillier and Emma Dearth. There are still spots open if you’re interested!

Canoe Trip: The chapter’s annual summer canoe trip this year will be at Paint Creek on July 1^st. Students will meet at the school at 9:30 A.M. and will be returning around 5 P.M. if not a little later. We will be stopping for lunch so students will need to bring money for that and for canoeing/kayaking. $40 is probably safe amount to bring. A text reminder will be sent to the chapter membership. Prepare to get wet and have fun!

FFA Camp: This year our chapter will be attending the 5^th session of FFA Camp on July 6^th through the 10^th. During camp members will be participating in many leadership activities with other FFA members from all over Ohio. At camp, members will develop leadership skills and make friendships that last a lifetime. Students will meet on Monday July 6^th at 9 A.M. in the Ag Shop. Those attending should expect to receive multiple text notices the week before FFA Camp. As of June 1^st, we have over 45 planning on attending summer FFA Camp!!

Washington Leadership Conference: The Washington Leadership Conference will be held in Washington D.C. from July 21^st to July 26^th. Josie Montoney and Lexie Kougher will tour our nation’s capitol along with learning valuable leadership skills and experiencing personal growth. Members are chosen through an application and interview process within the chapter. While at WLC students don’t just meet people from Ohio they get to meet people from all over the United States.

Each of these young ladies won one of the chapter’s Memorial Awards which provides for the cost of this conference. These awards are given in memory of two former FFA members, Rusty Bowers and Becky Strickler, who were lost to us as result of accidents while still FFA members.

Cross Mound Park Clean Up: Our chapter is having our annual Cross Mound Park clean up on August 14^th. Members will meet there at 10:00 A.M. The park is on Sixteenth Road near Tarlton. Students will be mending fences, maintaining trails, cleaning up the shelter houses and more. This should only last a few hours. A text reminder will be sent to the whole chapter for this event.

Adopt-a-Highway Clean Up: This Adopt-a-Highway clean up will be held on August 7^th to clean part of St. Rte. 159. Members need to be at the school at 3:00 P.M. We should be done by 4:30 P.M. A text reminder will be sent to the whole chapter for this event.

Pelotonia Bike Tour: The Pelotonia Bike Tour starts in Columbus and helps raise money for cancer research. On August 8^th, members wanting to help are encouraged to be at the school at approximately 6 P.M., but the exact time will be announced. Each year our chapter has helped with set-up and tear -down and we are looking forward to it again this year. Remember to wear your orange Pelotonia FFA shirt!! If you need a Pelotonia/FFA shirt, text Mr. Tilley. Some are available to borrow or purchase. A text reminder will be sent to those who have signed-up in advance.

Past Happenings

Ag. Breakfast: The chapter’s last breakfast of the school year was on May 8^th at IHOP. This breakfast was a wonderful event for members to sit and have a good meal while talking with friends and family. We have Ag Breakfasts every month throughout the year.

May FFA Meeting: Our last monthly meeting of the year was on May 19^th in the Ag. Center. At this meeting, the assistant officers were in charge and after the meeting we had a cookout. The winning class of the Ag Challenge was the seniors - Class of 2015!

State FFA Convention: Once again, the chapter attended the 87^th annual State FFA Convention on April 30^th and May 1^st. While at convention Kaylee Reed and Devon Mullen were recognized for how well they did in their SAE projects. Devon placed in the 4^th in the State for Dairy Production and was the State Winner for Organic Agriculture! Kaylee placed second in the state in Accounting and 2^nd in the state for Organic Agriculture. We are very proud of these two members and their hard work.

A few members earned their State FFA Degree at convention: Adrian Wymer, Devon Mullen and Susan Householder. Congratulations to these members. The following members were recognized for gold ratings with their officer books: Reporter - Josie Montoney, Secretary - Susan Householder and Treasurer - Sydney Stinson.

Many A-C FFA members were recognized for their top Career Development Event (contest) achievements.

State CDE Individual Winners:

· Josie Montoney – Job Interview, Wildlife Management, Extemporaneous Speaking, & Agricultural Communications

· Samantha Young – Prepared Speaking

· Lexie Kougher – Beginning Prepared Speaking

State CDE Winning Teams:

· Agricultural Communications: Josie Montoney, Samantha Young & Kaylee Reed

· Environmental & Natural Resources: Josie Montoney, Kayla Luft, Dylan Mullen & Adrian Wymer

Josie Montoney was also won one of the few Ohio FFA Alumni Washington Leadership Scholarships which helps reduce the cost of the Washington Leadership Conference for students.

Finally, three members earned their State FFA Degree. Those members were: Adrian Wymer, Sydney Stinson and Devon Mullen.

Congratulations to all of these members on an outstanding Ohio State FFA Convention!!! The Amanda-Clearcreek FFA Chapter was very well represented!!

A-C FFA Awards Banquet: This year’s annual awards banquet took place on Friday May 9^th at 4:00 P.M. At the banquet, we recognized 28 CDE teams, 8 of those teams placed in the top 10 in the state of Ohio. There were 13 individuals who placed in the top 10 in the state of Ohio. We also handed out certificates to 25 members who sold 25+ boxes or baskets of fruit and to 24 students who sold 150+ bags of mulch. This year the overall top fundraiser was Susan Householder for raising $4109.00 in gross sales. We recognized several members for winning awards, those members included:

· Star Greenhand Award - Emma Dearth

· Outstanding Sophmore - Mallory Seitz and Carlie Krile

· Outstanding Junior – Josie Montoney

· Outstanding Senior - Adrian Wymer

· Star Chapter Award - Kayla Luft, Ashley Pritchard and Kaylee Reed

· Leadership Camp Award - Emma Dearth and Billy L’Huiller

· Leadership Conference Award - Lexie Kougher, Emma Dearth and Cole Kleinline

· DeKalb Leadership Award - Devon Mullen

· Memorial Awards - Josie Montoney and Lexie Kougher

Also at the chapter awards banquet, we inducted Adrian Wymer into the CDE Hall of fame! Adrian placed on teams that were in the top 10 in the state for Forestry, Wildlife Management, Environmental and Natural Resources, Nature Interpretation and Aquarium Management.

This year we have one member who earned their American FFA Degree: Jenna Ferguson. Congratulations to all the members who earned an award - we are truly proud of you!!

Top Spring Fundraiser’s Trip: This year the top fundraiser’s trip was on May 14^th to May 17^th. The members went to West Virginia to go whitewater rafting and backpacking at Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. The students’ who went on this trip were the top 15 mulch sellers and the top two Spring flower bulb sellers. We would like to thank future student teacher Ms. Sahra Flinn and Mrs. Brittany Tilley for chaperoning the trip.