February of 2016

By Mallory Seitz, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

The next meeting will be on Tuesday the 16^th at 7 P.M. in the Ag. Center. This will be the meeting where we elect the 2016-2017 Officers! The Ag. Challenge will be the Scavenger Hunt.

Upcoming Events

Ag. Breakfast: Breakfast will be on February 5^th at 6:30 A.M. at Frisch’s. Remember this is a great event to get together with friends before school and enjoy a good meal.

Ag. Sales: Students have started preparing for the Ag. Sales contest. This contest includes a multiple-choice general knowledge test, a sales demonstration, and multiple practicums. This contest challenges the students’ knowledge on advertising and promotion, product display, and customer relations.

Ag. Industrial Diagnostics: This contest is designed to test the teams’ knowledge on how well they can find a problem on a tractor. There can only be two members who participate on this team. During this competition the team will have three to six tractors with two problems each, they will have to quickly determine the problem. In order to move on to the state level the team must place first or second in the district.

Top Fall Fundraiser’s Trip: From February 12^th to the 14^th, members who sold the most flower bulbs and members who sold at least 25 boxes/baskets of fruit will be going on the Top Fall Fundraiser’s Trip to Louisville, Kentucky. They will attend the National Farm Machinery Show, Truck and Tractor Pulls, as well as attending multiple tours. Those who are eligible for the trip include: Mason Lindsey, Tyler Hart, Jacob Green, Austin Smith, Tre King, Billy Colburn, Dylan doss, Dustin Bresler, Cole Kleinline, Riley McClure, MattieGrace Hamilton, Rachel Hizey, Sarah Doner, Cassie Brewer, Mallory Seitz, Emma Dearth, Carlie Krile and Jessica Poling. This year the chapter will be touring The Louisville Slugger Bat Factory and Museum, and The Frazier Historical Museum.

FFA Week: The week of February 22^nd to the 26^th the chapter will be participating in National FFA week. This year we have chosen different themes for each day. Monday will be Merica Monday, Tuesday will be truck and tractor day, Wednesday will be official dress day, Thursday is Ag./FFA T-shirt day and Friday is Flannel Friday. Participating in FFA week is a good opportunity to earn bonus points along with participating in a fun week! On Friday there will also be Game Night for the chapter, this will be at 7 P.M. during game night members can bring their own games and the chapter will be providing some as well. There will also be a Dodgeball tournament for everyone, if interested bring money for refreshments.

212° Leadership Conference: On February Saturday the 20^th and Sunday the 21^st members will be attending the 212° Leadership Conference held at Union Local High School. FFA members from all around Ohio are invited to attend. Members will be working with the National FFA Staff participating in leadership workshops. That evening students will join in on several fun activities which include, square dancing, a hypnotist, euchre tournament, dodgeball tournament, minute to win it games and inflatables.

Public Speaking: On the 23^rd of February Josie Montoney, MattieGrace Hamilton, Jaylynn Fausnaugh, and Damascus Cummings will be competing in the Public Speaking CDE. MattieGrace is doing Beginning Prepared which requires the speaker to present a 5 to 7 minute speech over any agricultural topic, Damascus is doing Extemporaneous which is open to all four grade levels and involves presenting a 4 to 6 minute speech over an agricultural topic that they had 30 minutes to prepare for. Josie is doing Advanced Prepared which is generally for juniors and seniors and they must present a 4 to 6 minute speech once again on an agricultural related topic, while Jaylynn is doing Creed which requires the student to recite the FFA Creed and then answer questions about it.

Past Happenings

FFA Greenhand Degree: The Greenhand Degree is the first degree that a member can receive. This year there were 14 new members who earned this degree, those recipients were: Jameson Bazell, Curtis Butterball, Colton Cope, Brownowyn Cummings, Owen Dunlap, Sierra Foster, Sophia Horn, Bryson L’Huillier, Mason, Lindsey, Kristian Lobo, Kaci Morin, Jessica Poling, Brandon Stanley and Cheyenne Swisher.

FFA Chapter Degree: The Chapter Degree is the highest award that the chapter can bestow on a member. This year there were 13 members who received this award, they include: Cassie Brewer, Shalyn Brown, Emma Dearth, Sarah Doner, MattieGrace Hamilton, Mikayla Hicks, Trent Holbrook, Riley McClure, Michael Montoney, Teierra Tooill, Katie Vickroy, Ashlynne Wells and Cole Klineline.

FFA Movie Night: On January 15^th the chapter decided to try something new. There are not many activities going on during the winter months, and as a new activity the chapter hosted a movie night. 20 kids enjoyed watching “Pitch Perfect” and snacked on pizza