Amanda-Clearcreek FFA News

December 2019

by Stephanie Bowers, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

The next A-C FFA meeting will be on Monday, December 16th at 7:00 p.m. in the Ag Center. The ag challenge for this meeting will be the feed bag hold. There will be one girl and one boy representing each grade level. The girl representatives will hold a 40-pound feed bag, and the boys will hold a 50-pound feed bag. 

Upcoming Events

Ag Breakfast: This month’s Ag Breakfast will be held on December 6th at 6:15 a.m. at Frisch’s. As always, all members are invited to attend, bring their families, and enjoy a good breakfast!

Fruit and Snack Sale: The chapter would like to thank everyone for a successful fruit and snack sale, and for supporting the FFA through buying our products! The fruit/snack pick-up dates are December 9th (3-8pm), 10th (3-6pm), and 11th (3-6pm) in the Ag Center located by the K-2 building.

Columbus Zoo Trip: The Columbus Zoo Trip will take place on Friday, December 20th for all FFA members who sold 10 or more boxes of fruit or snacks. Members who are attending the trip to see the lights at the zoo will be leaving after school on Friday, and will not be returning until approximately 11:00 p.m. Members will need to dress according to the weather and bring money for dinner.

CDEs

Job Interview CDE: Recently, our chapter sent five members to compete in the County Job Interview contest at Liberty Union High School. Karlee Parry competed in the Freshmen division, where she placed second; Sara Sharp competed in the Sophomore division, where she placed first; Morgan Anderson competed in the Junior division, where she placed first; Kiley Holbrook competed in the Senior division, where she placed first; and Jarett Powell competed in the first year Junior/Senior division, where he placed second. At the county level, all first and second place participants move on to the District competition. At the District 7 Job Interview CDE held at Licking Valley High School, Morgan and Kiley placed first, Sara and Jarett placed second, and Karlee placed third. In each division at the District competition, only the first place individual advances to the state level; therefore, Morgan and Kiley will be traveling to OSU on December 7th to represent District 7 at the state level in their respective divisions! This contest requires students to write a cover letter and resume, fill out an application, go in for an interview, and then write a follow-up letter. Congratulations to each of these members for their placing, and good luck to Morgan and Kiley advancing to the state contest!

Parliamentary Procedure CDE: With the advent of winter, it is time for Parliamentary Procedure, and our chapter has a team for both the Advanced and Novice CDEs this year. The Novice Parliamentary Procedure CDE requires eight team members to take on the role of officers and members to operate an entire official FFA meeting, from opening through closing ceremonies, in 15 minutes. The six-member team of the Advanced Parliamentary Procedure contest, consisting of a chair, a secretary, and four members, must conduct the new business section of a meeting in twelve minutes. Both teams must correctly display acts and rules of parliamentary law and manage motions correctly while they are on the floor. The County Parliamentary Procedure CDE contest will be held on November 26th with Districts to follow for qualifying teams on December 4th. Should either team qualify for state, the Novice state contest will be held on December 14th and the Advanced state contest on December 21st. The Advanced CDE team this year consists of Megan Bausum, Cole Bryan, AJ Dossman, Kyle Hicks, Jay Sahr, and Aaron Sharp. The members of the Novice CDE team are Emily Buckley, Morgan Cowdrey, Riley McKeska, Eian McKnight, Autumn Parry, Josie Speakman, Hannah Saum, and Alex Williams. Good luck to all participating members!

Past Happenings

National FFA Convention: This year, the National FFA Convention was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from October 30th through November 2nd. To attend this trip, members needed to fill out an application that was found on our chapter website (acffa.org). During this trip, members were able to go to various sessions of the convention, the Buckeye Bash, an Old Dominion Concert, and various educational tours set up by the advisors such as Fair Oaks Farm Tour, Stuckey Farm Tour, Good’s Candy Shop Tour, Rascals Fun Zone, and the Wood-Mizer Tour.

We were also able to represent Ohio three times in national CDE competitions. Our chapter competed in the following national contests: Agricultural Issues Forum CDE, Extemporaneous Public Speaking CDE, and Creed Speaking CDE. Our Agricultural Issues Forum CDE team consisted of Morgan Anderson, Kyle Hicks, Kiley Holbrook, Allie Poston, Ellie Sahr, and Kaylee Sharp. This year, the Ag Issues Forum team advanced to the national semi-finals, which is the top 16 in the nation, earning a silver rating. Aaron Sharp represented Ohio in the National Extemporaneous Speaking LDE, where he did a commendable job. To top off the success, Sara Sharp represented Ohio in the National Creed Speaking CDE. She earned an impressive national semi-finals appearance, which is also the top 16 in the nation, earning a silver rating. Congratulations to Morgan, Kyle, Kiley, Allie, Ellie, Kaylee, Aaron, and Sara for all of their hard work and dedication!

The chapter also had the following three graduate FFA members receive their American FFA Degree: Carlie Krile, Lexie Shumaker, and Sydney Stinson. The American Degree is the highest degree an FFA member can earn in this organization. Only about one percent of the nearly 700,000 FFA members in the country actually earn their American FFA Degree each year.  Needless to say, this is quite an honor for our three members. Congratulations again to Carlie, Lexie, and Sydney for achieving this outstanding accomplishment.

Lastly, the chapter received it’s Three Star Gold Rating on stage at convention as well. This is the highest honor an FFA Chapter can earn at the national level.

The chapter would like to say a special thank you to Stacie Dearth and Lexie Shumaker for chaperoning the trip this year.

Ag Breakfast: The last monthly Ag Breakfast was held on November 8th at Frisch’s. As always, it was a fantastic opportunity for members to get to know one another better over a good breakfast.

Hog Roast: On November 12th, our chapter held its annual hog roast. The hog roast is a great event for not only FFA members, but also for their families and community supporters. As in years past, there was a large crowd in attendance with over 250 people coming to enjoy some great food and fellowship for the evening!

Holiday Food Drive: The A-C FFA Chapter recently concluded the Holiday Food Drive. For this drive, the chapter has always worked closely with the Chelsea Hedrick’s Food Drive, who has collected thousands of pounds of food for local families in need throughout the years. This event is a great opportunity for FFA members and families in the community to help make a difference in their hometown.

State FFA Officer Leadership Night: On November 20th, the A-C FFA Chapter hosted the State FFA Officer Leadership Night. The chapter has hosted this event for many years, and A-C is the only school in our district and in Central Ohio to hold this large of an event. The state officers held fantastic sessions where members learned how to demonstrate both leadership and followership. We are proud to say this State Officer Leadership Night was another success and hosted 239 FFA members from all over central Ohio!