Summer of 2024

by Emma Strickler, Reporter

Next FFA Meeting

The next A-C FFA meeting will not take place until school resumes in August. This will be the first meeting of the year on Monday, August 19th at 7 p.m. in the Ag Center. All members are required to attend and if you cannot make it, then you must give a note to either Mr. Tilley or Mr. Sharp. There will be an Ag Challenge following the meeting, which will be a straw bale toss. Each grade will have one male and one female compete in this challenge.

Upcoming Events

June

A-C Alumni Banquet: To help make the A-C Alumni Association Banquet a success, all A-C FFA members are strongly encouraged to help setup tables and chairs for this event on Saturday, June 1st at 10 a.m. Then, later in the evening, there will also be shifts that members can sign up for to help make sure the banquet runs smoothly and to clean up afterwards. The A-C Alumni organization gives back so much to FFA members and all Amanda-Clearcreek students in general. Our Alumni Association is one of the best in the state of Ohio, giving out approximately $100,000 worth of scholarships to seniors and recent graduates each year! We want to do what we can to give back to this organization, so we ask everyone to do their part!

A-C Thad Davis 5K Run/Walk: Our chapter is once again helping with the Thad Davis 5K at the Amanda-Clearcreek High School on Saturday, June 15th from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. A signup form will be available later on with two different shifts that members may choose to work. Members will assist with registration, traffic control, finish line duties and setting up tables/chairs. This event is considered a community service event and will contribute to summer ag hours. Please see Mr. Tilley if you would like to help.

Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up: As an additional community service project, our chapter will be having an Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up on Friday, June 7th at 10 a.m. This will take place after Ag Breakfast. For over 20 years, the A-C FFA Chapter has adopted a portion of state route 159 and will pick up all of the trash on the side of the road. We will be continuing this activity this summer. Anyone who is interested in going may meet at the school before the event and then the chapter will head out to clean the portion of the road they adopted. This is a great way to give back to your community!

Ag Breakfast: The June Ag Breakfast will take place on Friday, June 7th at 8 a.m. at The Village Cafe in Laurelville. All members are encouraged to attend as it gives students a chance to interact with their peers over summer break, stay active in Chapter activities and eat a good meal.

Officer Retreat: The A-C FFA Leadership team will hold their annual Officer Retreat on June 3rd and 4th, where the officers and assistant officers will travel to Amish Country. They will attend multiple tours and plan chapter activities for the upcoming school year. The chapter is constantly trying to improve, so if anyone has ideas to help attain this goal, please reach out to an officer!

July

Canoe Trip: The summer canoe trip will take place on Sunday, July 21st on the Hocking River. More information will be sent out later on with what time to be at the school. Those who plan on attending need to bring money for food and their canoe/kayak. Members are also encouraged to bring a towel and dry clothes! This is a great activity. Don’t miss out!

Summer FFA Camp: Our chapter will once again be attending the 5th Session of Summer FFA Camp at Camp Muskingum this year. This year, camp will be held on July 8th-12th and attendees will be given the opportunity to interact with FFA members from all across the state, as well as engage in numerous leadership activities. Additionally, there is a wide range of fun, outdoor activities for the members to participate in. Some activities you might find at camp are a rifle range, archery range, laser tag, Trap Shooting, dances, kickball tournaments, volleyball tournaments, basketball tournaments, swimming, canoeing, paddle boarding and much much more. This trip is a great opportunity to meet new people. Going on this trip will also count towards all of your summer hours for Ag. If interested in attending Summer FFA Camp, reach out to Mr. Tilley and he will give you more information.

Summer Trap Shoot: On July 15th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., our chapter will be having a cookout and trap shoot at Mr. Sharp’s house: 9480 Thomas Hill Rd. Each member that attends must provide $5 to cover the cost for clay pigeons and food. It is also required to bring your own firearm and ammunition. All members, parents and A-C FFA Alumni are more than welcome to attend!

Washington Leadership Conference (WLC): The Washington Leadership Conference is a weeklong trip where FFA members from all over the country travel to our nation’s capital to engage in leadership building and community service activities. Attendees will build lifelong memories and friendships and they will get the opportunity to tour many monuments and museums. To attend this trip, members can certainly pay the cost themselves, but our chapter also has two scholarship programs set up to allow two students to attend this trip with all costs paid for. To earn this scholarship, members must apply to receive the Memorial Award. These two Memorial Awards are in memory of Rusty Bowers and Becky Strickler, who were both past members that lost their lives after being in the FFA. The generous donations from these two individuals' families, as well as many others, have allowed us to send FFA members to WLC for many years. This year’s recipients of the Memorial Awards are Catherine Buckly and Emma Strickler. This trip will last from July 16th to the 21st. These two individuals are so excited to bring back the many leadership skills they learn to our chapter. What a great opportunity.

August

Ag Breakfast: The August Ag Breakfast will take place on Friday, August 2 at 8 a.m. at Goodwins in Circleville. All members are encouraged to attend as this is a great opportunity to socialize with peers and stay involved as summer break draws near an end.

Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up: Our chapter will be having a second Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up on Monday, August 19th at 3 p.m. We will once again be adopting a portion of state route 159 to clean up trash on the side of the road. This is a great community service opportunity and we encourage everyone to get involved and do their part!

Field to Table Event: The A-C FFA Chapter will once again be helping with the Field to Table Event at Franklin Park Conservatory on Friday, August 23rd at 5:30 p.m. There is a limited number of members that can help with this community service project, so if interested, you must contact Mr. Sharp. This event is the largest fundraiser that Franklin Park Conservatory does each year to raise money to improve the facilities. Our chapter will help run the event and make sure all guests have everything they need. This is a great community service event and we are always fed very well afterwards!

Pelotonia: Pelotonia is a bike tour/race that starts in Columbus each year. This is a 100 mile bike trip that raises money for cancer research. Our chapter has been helping with this event since its first year now because the route used to stop at Amanda. The route has changed over time, but A-C FFA members are still eager to help. This event will be held on Friday, August 2nd and members who want to attend need to meet at the school at 5 p.m. to ride the bus to Columbus. Those who attend will eat a good meal, then they will help clean up chairs and tables from the dinner and set up bike racks for the tour/race the next day. Pelotonia is a great community service activity and we encourage everyone to attend!

Past Happenings

Ag Breakfast: The May Ag Breakfast took place on Friday, May 3rd at 6 a.m. at IHop in Lancaster. All who attended had a great time socializing with their peers and eating a good meal before school. Everyone should attend Ag Breakfast. Take advantage of the great opportunities that the A-C FFA Chapter offers to its members.

A-C FFA Chapter Awards Banquet: The annual Amanda-Clearcreek FFA Chapter Awards Banquet was held on Saturday, May 11th at 4 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. Members, advisors, parents and school administration all came together to celebrate the accomplishments of A-C FFA throughout the 2023-2024 school year. We recognized our many CDE teams, everyone who participated in our fall fruit and snack sale and spring mulch sale, our 4-year seniors, our district proficiency award placers and much much more. Madelyn Anderson earned an Ohio FFA Foundation Scholarship. Here are some highlights of the banquets and members who earned chapter awards:

Star Greenhand - Ariana Norris and Alayna Leppert
Outstanding Sophomore - Emma Strickler
Outstanding Junior - Peter Smith
Outstanding Senior - Madelyn Anderson
Star Chapter Award - Madelyn Anderson
Memorial Award - Catherine Buckley and Emma Strickler
DeKalb Leadership Award - Carley Claypool
Top Fall Fruit & Snack Sale - Kara Johnson, Alayna Leppert and Avery McKeska
Top Spring Mulch Sale - Maddie Cordle
Top Fundraiser Award - Maddie Cordle
CDE Hall of Fame - Madelyn Anderson
Honorary Membership Award - Katerina Sharp

Baby Animal Farm and Ag Day: On May 17th, the A-C FFA Officer Team hosted its annual Baby Animal Farm and Ag Day. Even though weather conditions were not favorable, the team still managed to make this a great day by teaching Amanda-Clearcreek students about agriculture! All students K-12 were able to walk through the Baby Animal Farm during any point of the school day. There were a wide variety of animals such as cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and even a hedgehog. The Ag Day activities were for 3rd graders only and they included planting seeds in the greenhouse, a cow milking stimulation, a barrel racing game and touring the baby animal farm with a detailed explanation of the animals by one of the officers. To wrap up this fun day, each student got to make their own ice cream! The officer team had a great time promoting agriculture to these enthusiastic students.

District 7 Officer Training: The 2024-2025 Officer team attended the District 7 Officer Training on May 7th. At this event, the officers were broken into groups with officers from other schools that hold the same office position as them. Each officer sat through lectures and workshops with officers from other schools to learn how to excel in the position they hold. The A-C FFA Officer Team is excited to implement everything they learned at the officer training throughout their year of service.

May FFA Meeting: The May FFA meeting for our chapter was held on Monday, May 20th at 7 p.m. in the Ag Center. The chapter conducted the regular business meeting and discussed plans for all of our summer activities. Holding to tradition, the Assistant Officers ran this meeting as it was the last meeting of the 2023-2024 school year. This allowed them to demonstrate their leadership and parliamentary procedure skills. Following the adjournment of the meeting, there was no Ag Challenge. Instead, we had our annual cookout to celebrate the end of the year and the overall Ag Challenge winners. Congratulations to the Freshman (Class of 2027) for being the Ag Challenge winners for the 2023-2024 school year!

Memorial Day Flag Display: In honor of Memorial Day coming up, A-C FFA members went to the Stoutsville Cemetery after school on May 16th to put flags on the graves of veterans. This is the second year in a row the chapter has done this activity. The members are so grateful for the opportunity to give back to those who have served our country!

Mulch and Flower Bulb Sale: The spring mulch and flower bulb sale has officially come to an end. Most of the mulch sold has been picked up and delivered by the members, but if you still have mulch to pick up, please contact Mr. Tilley. These sales largely contribute to the chapter’s success, so a huge thank you is extended to all members who did their part and sold mulch. The top 15 mulch sellers will attend the Top Spring Fundraiser’s Trip to Dolly Sods, West Virginia on May 28th to the 30th. This trip is a great way to end the school year!

State FFA Convention: The Ohio State FFA Convention took place on May 2nd and 3rd. At the State Convention, our chapter was recognized as a Gold Rated Chapter. Maddie Cordle, Rylyn Foster and Haley Robinson were all recognized for their gold-rated officer books. Additionally, three of our members earned their State FFA Degree: Braeleigh Blosser, Carley Claypool and Peter Smith. The Agricultural Communications CDE team consisting of Madelyn Anderson, Catherine Buckley, Maddie Cordle and Emma Strickler were recognized for winning the state competition! Along with that, Madelyn Anderson was recognized for being the first place individual in the state of Ohio for the Job Interview CDE. Emma Strickler was also recognized for her state championship in the Beginning Prepared Public Speaking CDE. Last, but certainly not least, the chapter’s very own Morgan Anderson, who is currently serving as the National Eastern Region Vice President, was the Keynote Speaker for one of the sessions at the Ohio FFA Convention. Congratulations to all of these members for representing some of the best individuals in the state!