By MattieGrace Hamilton, Reporter

“Agriculture is our wisest  pursuit because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness.”

-Thomas Jefferson

F FA Meeting:Our next FFA meeting will be held on August 22nd at 7pm in the Ag Center. The Ag challenge will be the egg relay race. Juniors have dominated in the 2015-2016 school year. Which class will step up and take the spot of the winning class of the 2016-2017 school year?

Ag Day: 

On May 24th the A-C FFA officer and assistants organized an Ag Day Event for the 3rd graders. The 3rd graders participated in many different stations that teach children about the different aspects of agriculture. Students learned how agricultural goods and products get transported from the farm to the dinner table and they went through many stations learning about animals, production of goods and planting. The 3rd graders had a blast and the officer team cannot wait to do this again next year. The chapter would like to make a special thanks to Sydney Stinson for organizing this activity from the ground up the last two years. This is a great program that Sydney has implemented into our chapter activities.

State FFA Convention: 

At the State FFA Convention this year many chapter members were recognized for their outstanding achievements that they have worked very hard to earn over the past year. Nelson Craycraft earned 4th in the state rankings for his proficiency award of Agricultural Mechanics Repair & Maintenance. Kaylee Reed earned 4th in the state rankings for her proficiency award of Accounting. She also received 2nd in the state for her Organic Agriculture proficiency award. Devon Mullen placed 2nd in the state for his proficiency award in Nursery Operations. These are very challenging awards to accomplish and are the culmination of at least three years of work in their respective Supervised Agricultural Experience areas. Congratulations to Nelson, Kaylee and Devon for all their hard work.

At the State Convention, six of our chapter members received their State FFA Degrees. This is the highest degree that an FFA member can achieve at the state level. Those chapter members earning their state degrees this year are Lexie Kougher, Austin Smith, Kaylee Reed, Dylan Mullen, Josie Montoney, and Dustin Bresler. This is a very high honor that these members have achieved. Congratulations to these six individuals for their hard work and dedication.

This year at the State FFA Convention, one of our chapter members was elected one of Ohio’s State FFA officers. Josie Montoney was elected as the 2016-2017 State FFA Secretary. There are only 11 state officers to represent all of the over 25,000 FFA members in Ohio and Josie is one of those.  This is the 10th Amanda Clearcreek FFA Chapter member to earn this honor and to be elected to serve on this team. Our chapter is very proud of Josie. She has accomplished great achievements in our chapter and we know she will continue to do that as a state officer.

Mulch Trip:

        On May 19-22 the A-C FFA members who had sold 150 to 200 bags of mulch were eligible for the annual incentive  trip. The members that attended were able to whitewater raft on the Youghiogheny River, go wild caving at Laurel Caverns and camp out with their friends at the Ohiopyle State park. Without our members selling mulch we would not be able to do all the activities that our chapter does each year, so great job members.

Ag Breakfast: Ag Breakfast will be over the summer on June 3rd at 8 A.M at Laurelville Diner, July 8th at Bob Evans in Lancaster at 8 A.M. and August 5th at Goodwins in Circleville at 8 A.M.

Ohio Leadership Camp: OLC will be held on  June 24th - 27th at Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum in Carrollton Ohio.  During OLC, the members will be able to meet new people while learning leadership skills. They will be communicating with multiple state officers and various leaders in the Ohio agricultural community. Participants will spend three days honing their leadership skills and abilities through this intensive leadership training. The members who earned the Ohio Leadership Camp scholarship this year were Austin J. Smith, Bronowyn Cummings and Cole Kleinline.

Officer Retreat: The A-C FFA Leadership retreat will be held on June 29th - July 1st. Our officers and their assistants will be going to Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum to take part in several leadership based team building activities to help our team grow and bond as a group. During this trip, our chapter leaders will be participating in several tours of local historical and agricultural significance as well as participating in a high ropes initiative course and other team building activities.

FFA Camp: Ohio FFA camp will be held on July 11th - 15th at Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum. We encourage as many of our members to go to FFA camp as possible. This is a highly recommended trip that our chapter attends every year. Members can be involved in canoeing, motor boating, swimming, volleyball, shooting sports and paintball. This is an experience that no FFA member will regret.  All students that are enrolled in an Ag. Ed. class next year from 8th grade through senior are eligible to attend.  Please call Mr. Sharp for details if you have not already signed up at  (740) 503-2961.

For any additional information go to www.acffa.org 

Students are reminded to work on their SAE projects throughout the summer and keep track of their activities on AET.  Records will be checked in the fall so it’s important to keep them up to date!  This is always crucial for State FFA Degrees and Proficiency Awards.

We will have many opportunities over the summer for members to have the chance to reconnect so keep an eye out for summer hour activities!  Each member needs to complete at least EIGHT hours of approved summer activities in the months we are not in school, but many of you will want to do much more.  A list of summer hours has  been attached to this newsletter.