Each year during the week of George Washington’s birthday, middle school and high school students across the nation celebrate how the FFA organization is making an impact in their state and local communities. FFA week serves as a time for students to share the impact of agricultural education, interact with alumni and celebrate the organization.
The first national FFA week took place in 1948 and was chosen during the week of the first president’s birthday to honor the impact he had on agriculture. This year FFA week was Feb. 22 to 29 and Ohio FFA members were busy executing events and activities to share the story of agriculture and agricultural education.
The Franklin Monroe Chapter, located in Darke County, hosted several events throughout the week for FFA members, school staff and students. FFA members participated in theme days throughout the school week, which included hat day, western day, FFA Wednesday, camo day, and agriculture occupation day.… Continue reading
Miami Valley Career Technology Center (MVCTC) FFA Chapter has a primary goal to follow the National FFA Mission, which is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for career success through agricultural education and Career Development Events.
The Veterinary Science Seniors recently went to the Young Leaders Conference sponsored by The Ohio State University and Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Alpha. The purpose of the 2020 Young Leaders Conference is to provide a unique opportunity for students to improve their leadership skills, experience professional development, and advance communication abilities. These are just a few of the fundamental qualities that the conference works on developing to help the students succeed in their future endeavors. A variety of Ohio State University faculty and industry professionals came in to present to the students. The students gained a better sense of how to become a leader in the agricultural world.… Continue reading
On February 13th, the West Holmes FFA Chapter attended sub-district speaking at Plymouth High School.
The categories were FFA Creed Speaking, Beginning Prepared Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking. Garrett Houin competed in the FFA Creed Speaking Competition. Garrett Houin was 2nd in his division. In Beginning Prepared Speaking, which is writing a 5-7 minute speech, Chloe Shumaker spoke about the pro and cons of tail docking in sheep and cattle. Chloe placed 2nd in her division as well. In advanced prepared, which is a 5-7 minute speech of an agricultural topic Bree Houin spoke about precision agriculture in which she talked about 20/20 vision, she received 2nd place. In Extemporaneous Speaking, which is drawing a random agricultural topic and writing a 4-6 minute speech on it in a half hour. Jayme Pennell competed in that area and received 1st overall. All members proceeded to Districts Speaking at Northmore High School on February 18th. … Continue reading
On February 10th the West Holmes FFA Chapter joined 9 other FFA chapters and rented out the Snow Tails tubing park in Mansfield! 15 members attended the event and enjoyed an evening of fun and comradery.. Members include; Josh Carter, Dyllan Bender, Alysa Pringle, Kylie Ramirez, Chloe Shumaker, Ally Ogi, Pacee Miller, Ethan Feikert, Maddie Stitzlein, Rebecca Sprang, Olivia Sampsel, Jayme Pennell, Dawson Doretich, Sarah Irwin, Taryn Grassbaugh, and Tyler Eichelberger. Members had the opportunity to snow tube for 3 hours and they were able to have pizza and drinks.… Continue reading
The Milton-Union MVCTC FFA Chapter recently took 4 members to compete in the Miami County Public Speaking CDE. Tyler Kress competed in the freshman students only, Darby Welbaum competed in the Beginning Prepared contest with a speech she wrote and memorized herself. Jackson Kimmel and Gracie Guldemond competed in the extemporaneous contest in which they received a topic and have 30 minutes to research and write a speech, and then deliver their speech to the judges. Members Darby Welbaum and Jackson Kimmel moved on to the District 5 contest the following week!… Continue reading
The March 2020 Miami East-MVCTC FFA Member of the Month is Isaac Beal. He is the son of John and Melissa Beal. He is a freshman and first year member of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter.
Isaac is a member of the General Livestock Evaluation team and recently placed 3rd high individual at the Patriot Invitational competition. He also placed 2nd in the county Creed Speaking Competition and 4th in the District job Interview Event. His Supervised Agricultural Experience program consists breeding goat and market wethers.
Every month of the school year the Miami East-MVCTC FFA will select a student to be the FFA Member of the Month. The officer team will nominate one member that has been actively involved in the FFA chapter, school and community activities. If selected, the member will be recognized at the monthly FFA meeting, have their picture displayed in the Miami East Ag Room, and will receive a special accolade in celebration of their accomplishment.… Continue reading
AW FFA Vice-President of Building Communities, Jacob Zajkowski
On February 26, 2020, the Anthony Wayne FFA Chapter celebrated National FFA Week. The celebration started with the annual teacher and staff luncheon for all high school and junior high teachers and staff members. This annual event allows the school’s staff to celebrate the great achievements of our organization and also take the time to thank all faculty members for their help in making our chapter great. The theme for the luncheon this year was Ohio fresh food. All of the food that was provided was grown and made in Northwest Ohio. The teachers enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches, salad, potato chips, cookies and buckeyes while talking with other staff from the campus. NatureFresh in Delta donated tomatoes, and Turkeyfoot Creek Creamery in Wauseon donated goat feta cheese. Anthony Wayne FFA is a satellite of Penta Career Center.
The 2020 Ohio FFA State Convention is right around the corner and Ohio’s Country Journal and Ohio Ag Net is on the search for outstanding Ohio FFA members to help serve as student reporters for this year’s event.
In our tenth year of the student reporter program, selected FFA members will get the opportunity to help cover the convention and work alongside our news staff, including Matt Reese, Dale Minyo, and Kolt Buchenroth. Ever wonder what it’s like to do our job? This is your chance!
The live coverage of the Ohio FFA Convention will be posted on www.ocj.com and various social media outlets with reporters helping to host news coverage in addition to a couple veteran student reporters.
Students will assist in gathering information, shoot photos and video of newsworthy items and people, share their commentary of what happened in each session, and much more.
To be considered:
Applicants must be attending both days of the Ohio FFA State Convention April 30 and May 1, 2020.
The National FFA Organization’s GIVE THE GIFT OF THE BLUE program has reached a milestone. The program gifted it 10,000th jacket last week during National FFA Week when Allison Burns of North Miami High School in Indiana was presented with her own jacket.
The program was established in 2014 in response to a large number of members who do not own an FFA jacket. The FFA estimates more than half of its members do not have a FFA jacket to wear for official functions.
Individual donors and corporate sponsors fund the GIVE THE GIFT OF THE BLUE program.… Continue reading
The Zane Trace FFA Chapter, was represented by 13 members at the 212-360 Union Local High School FFA Lock in. The lock in took place February 22-23 2020. The training is made up of 6 different leadership sessions to include personal growth,mental growth,emotional growth,physical growth,social growth and lifelong growth. The philosophy of this lock in was SHOW UP, SPEAK UP, BUILD UP. This philosophy was displayed in multiple places in the school. While this training helps to fulfill a requirement for the State Degree much more was gained than just fulfilling a requirement. Along with the mandatory requirements students were able to have a fun night with other FFA Chapter members to include square dancing,hypnotist,inflatables, line dancing, ice cream party, and dodgeball. This was an amazing opportunity and is highly recommended from all those who attended.
Matt and Kolt kick off National FFA Week with State FFA President at large, Alec Ogg. Dale attended Ag Day at the Capital and talked to Frank Burkett and Yvonne Lesicko while he was there. And Dusty appears on the podcast once again after he interviewed Keeley Overmyer on her Soy research.… Continue reading
The Norwayne FFA hosted a Feed-a-Farmer lunch on Monday, February 17th. In years past, they hosted a breakfast for farmers, but this year they decided to start something new and offer lunch. The event went on from 11am-2pm and was a great success with at least 90 farmers in attendance!
FFA members grilled hamburgers (donated by CAB) and hot dogs (donated by Heffelfinger Meats), and served many delicious side dishes like mac n’ cheese and coleslaw. When asked about the Feed-a-Farmer breakfast, Andy Stands said “My family and I have really come to appreciate the Feed-a-Farmer Day that the FFA puts on every year. It is a great opportunity for the students to show their support to those in the agriculture industry and we are honored to be a part of this special day.”
Many farmers gave feedback and said they preferred the new lunch over the old breakfast and the FFA members also liked coming in to help get the food ready to serve for lunchtime as well.… Continue reading
Milton-Union MVCTC FFA will celebrate National FFA Week this week! Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. It’s a time to share what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day. When our chapter Reporter, Kelsie Tomlinson, was asked, “What is FFA and how has it impacted you?” She replied with, “FFA is a place where I can work as a team while being involved and sharing my ideas. FFA has brought me many new friendships and skills that I will never forget. Being a part of this organization I became a better leader and it will always be very important to me.”
This year National FFA is February 22nd-29th. The Milton-Union MVCTC FFA chapter kicked off their celebration of FFA week with a snow tubing trip at Valley’s Edge and a Livestock Judging Career Development Event in Mt. Gilead, OH. Pictured are Tyler Kress, Emmie Bohse, Darby Welbaum, Cammy Shook, and Jackson Kimmel at the Livestock Judging CDE.… Continue reading
The Miami Trace/Great Oaks FFA members took part in various career development events over the past two weeks including public speaking and ag sales. These contests collmenated a the district competition which was held on February 18th at Ross Butler Tech High School. In the Ag Sales CDE, students have the opportunity to demonstrate skills in sales by participating in a wide range of activities oriented around the total sales process. Marketing of agricultural products is key to profitability in today’s competitive economy, and agricultural sales play a major role in the marketing process. This year students were assigned a product in the landscape design field of agriculture and as a team developed a sales strategy to solicit customers for their designated product. The team members were: Weston Pettit, Blayne Ferguson, Madison Johnson and Kelsey Pettit. The team placed 7th at the district competition.
In addition to Ag Sales, members also competed in the Public Speaking CDE.… Continue reading
On February 18th, Charlie Woods and Colby Forcum, members of the Zane Trace FFA Chapter, competed in the District 7 Agricultural Power Diagnostics Career Development Event. This event allows students the opportunity to try their hand at troubleshooting problems with late model farm and industrial power equipment.
The event, which was held at Franklin Equipment in Groveport, allowed students to work with skid-steers, dump vehicles, farm tractors, and ditch digging equipment.
“This was a lot of fun, and I definitely want to do it again.” Said Charlie Woods.
“It was cool to get a chance to work on equipment like this, because I do a little bit of this at my house for equipment my family owns.” Said Colby Forcum.
These two boys are both freshmen in High School, and they took home a very respectable 6th place finish.
Company launches Flavor of Day Naming Poll and FFA Essay Contest
PRAIRIE DU SAC, Wis.—Feb. 17, 2020—FFA members are our future — they will one day be tasked with the responsibility of helping manage our food supply. That’s why it’s important to celebrate them every day, but especially during National FFA Week, Feb. 22-29, 2020. In honor of this week, Culver’s is inviting guests and FFA members to get involved in two special Thank You Farmers Project initiatives.
This year, Culver’s is launching a special Thank You Farmers Project Fresh Frozen Custard Flavor of the Day. From 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, to 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 28, guests can visit Culver’s Facebook page to vote on what they’d like the new flavor’s name to be — either Mooey Gooey Brownie or Brownie Caramel Cow. The flavor is made with Vanilla Fresh Frozen Custard, chunks of chewy brownies and ribbons of old fashioned salted caramel.… Continue reading
Benjamin Logan FFA students Emma Wenger, Chance Frater, Derek LeVan, and Madison Buettner competed in the Agricultural Communications Career Development Event this past week. This CDE is a team event where students work as a team of communication consultants to develop a written media plan, present the plan to a panel of judges, and, as individuals, apply what they have learned during practicums, a quiz and editing exercise. This team CDE challenges students to communicate effectively while advocating to consumers about agriculture and telling the FFA story. Students will use a variety of media in their plans—social media, broadcast and print advertising, press releases, fliers, brochures, blogging, displays and more. Students build on many skills during this CDE including communication, collaboration, creativity and much more. The team placed 15th in state.… Continue reading
Benjamin Logan FFA member Kendra Kennedy competed in the FFA Creed speaking. The creed speaking CDE consists of citing the FFA creed to an audience. This helps the students build skills in public speaking, organization, professional manner, and helps build self-confidence. The student also has to answer questions about the FFA creed after reciting it, this also helps build on their skills. The skills that they build through this event will help them in the future for jobs, college, handling personal problems, and many other things.
Benjamin Logan FFA members Bradey Ackley and Matt Black participated in the Agricultural Power CDE this past week and earned second place in the district. Tractor troubleshooting is a competition event for FFA members to compete and helps students develop technical knowledge and an ability to work with others to solve complex agricultural problems. The event is built around students learning and executing a “systems approach” – or the process of understanding how solving one problem influences others. The team placed second in the district but students hope to compete again next year and move on to the state level.… Continue reading
On Tuesday, February 11, two members proudly represented the West Holmes FFA Chapter at North Central Ag in New London. Senior Brayden Shumaker and Junior Addison Yates were competing in the District 2 Tractor Troubleshooting Career Development Event. This event is where a piece of equipment is purposefully disabled and it is up to the two teammates to troubleshoot the piece of equipment and get it up and running in as little time as possible. They are scored on accuracy and safety. The team placed 2nd out of 3 teams. The boys will be competing at The University of Northwestern Ohio for the State contest and will have the opportunity to win college scholarships if they place well enough.… Continue reading
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