FFA News

The Logan Elm FFA officer team was challenged to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge last month. Wanting to participate in raising awareness for ALS they completed the challenge and, in turn, challenged two other FFA chapter officer teams along with the Student Union at Logan Elm to complete the Ice Bucket Challenge AND donate $100 or to donate $200.… Continue reading

The National Trail-MVCTC FFA Chapter held their first annual Greenhand Lock-In this past Friday thru Saturday. The Greenhand Lock-In was a way for Freshman Ag students to learn about the chapter and our activities we have throughout the year. The members stayed all night at the school and played different leadership and communicational activities with each other and the officers. The members included: Joseph Allen, Chloe Anderson, Kyla Atherton, Haley Baker, Lucas Boggs, Noah Brinkley, Katie Buehner, Kian Caldwell, Caitlyn Collins, Kraig Cottingim, Brandon Creech, Kara Feix, Chelsea Forster, Erika Gallaher, Brandon Grubb, Dalton Harmon, Jacob Heck, Joel Hoke, Jacob Hurd, Callista Kisling, Holly Lawson, Sonia Lopez, Dalton Mason, Kelsey  Matheny, Sophie McCloskey, Sydney Miller, Alexis Moler, Lauren Moore, Nathaniel Parker, Rachel Ray, Kaleb Rose, Noah Stonecash, Raina TIbbs, Keir Wambo, Andrew Willett and Silas Zurwell.

They also had 4 guests that came, the Ohio FFA State Officers. They were Sydney Snider, Alex Miller, Thomas Shaw and Shelby Furer.… Continue reading

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, the Buckeye Central FFA excelled at the District 2 Soils Contest in Lorain County.

The Rural Land Judging Team placed first out of 21 schools, and Urban Land Judgint Team placed first as a team out of 20 schools.

“Our hard work has payed off,” teacher Tyler Pope said. “And it is evident in the results. The participants overcame the rain and cold and represented our Chapter and Community well.”

Not only did BC place first as a team, but also had students place first individually in rural and urban.

Peter Keller placed first individually in the Urban contest and Ray Stahl placed first individually in Rural contest.

“Even though the weather wasn’t favorable,” Stahl said. “we still dominated the competition.”

The rest of the rural team did well too. Makayla Aichholz placed second individually, Tori Miller placed 11 individually, Jaret Shook placed 19 individually, and Derek Kalb placed 50 individually.… Continue reading

Four freshmen Southeastern FFA students attended the Ohio FFA Greenhand Conference held at Versailles High School to learn more about opportunities in the organization and meet other first-year FFA students from other schools. Many workshops were presented by Ohio FFA officers and Jason Wetzler, National FFA Western Region Vice President. Students were able to learn about and practice smaller versions of career development events as well as skills in communication, leadership, teamwork and goal setting. Those who attended included Emily Lambert, Madison Goodbar, Jesse Mitchell, and Tyler Blankenship.… Continue reading

Four members of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter recently competed in the State Agricultural Technical and Mechanical Systems Finals Career Development Event at The Ohio State University in Columbus. The contest was formally known as Agricultural Engineering The team consisted of Cody Reid, Grant Hodge, Weston Hodge, and Trent Church.

The team qualified for the finals after taking online exam and scoring in the Top 10 in the state. The finals contest was hosted by the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Ohio State and consisted of several hands-on practicums.

The team placed 7 in the state. The team received a plaque for their overall placing. The highest placing individual from Miami East was Cody Reid who placed 11 overall. A highlight of the contest was the perfect scores that Cody Reid and Weston Hodge scored in the engineering practicum.

During the finals event the contestants welded according to specifications, calculated corn seed population on precision agriculture machinery, and researched and tabulated engineering specifications on farm equipment using an online data system.… Continue reading

As harvest begins and the dangers of grain entrapments and explosions increases, now is the time to help educate youth on grain safety.

Trupointe Cooperative will be sponsoring its first Grain Safety Day on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, at our Sidney grain location. High school FFA students from Sidney, Wapakoneta and Jackson Center will participate in hands-on demonstrations, which will include the use of a grain engulfment simulator and grain dust explosion simulator.

The grain engulfment simulator utilizes a mock grain bin filled with corn, allowing participants to experience a practical entrapment and rescue. Participants, wearing a harness and safety gear, will be partially submerged in the corn while emergency responders use a rescue tube to free the person from the bin. The grain engulfment simulator is used annually to train emergency responders and also to show others how quickly a person can become helplessly trapped in grain.

With expected high yields that may be harvested wetter than normal this year, there likely will be more potential for clogged equipment and safety hazards.… Continue reading

The Anna FFA chapter of Anna, Ohio, has been recognized in the 2014 National Chapter Award Program from the National FFA Organization. The program recognizes outstanding FFA chapters from throughout the country that successfully complete an annual set of required activities that encourage members to grow as individuals, work as a team and serve others in their communities.

Chapters that received star ratings during judging July 27-Aug 1 will be recognized at the 2014 National FFA Convention & Expo, Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in Louisville, Ky. All-star FFA chapters receive honors made possible by corporate sponsor John Deere as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

“Feeding some 9 billion people by mid-century brings with it unprecedented challenges for today’s farmers,” said Amy Allen, manager, national corporate contributions for John Deere. “The skills and experiences learned through the National Chapter Awards programs will help meet the critical needs.”… Continue reading

The National Trail-MVCTC FFA Chapter held their first Administrative Dinner September 22^nd. The National Trail-MVCTC officers showed the school board members of National Trail and MVCTC their POA or Program of Activities. They explained the whole POA and multiple activities that they are planning on participating in this following year. Also, they had three amazing guest speakers, Natalie Miller, Jenna Genson and Tracy Dendinger.

Jenna Genson was first to speak, she told the board members about the importance of the National Honorary FFA Member award and how special it is to receive. Jessica Helsinger will be receiving this award October 31st at the National FFA Convention for Mr. Joseph Slone. Ms. Genson then spoke about how Joseph Slone was respected by more than just the National Trail-MVCTC FFA Chapter and how he was one of the best advisors.

Natalie Miller then spoke about the importance of field trips we take during the school year.… Continue reading

Miami Trace students, age 16 and older, were eligible to donate blood during the first annual blood drive of the school year. The drive was held September 24, 2014 at the Miami Trace High School field house. Mr. Owens, the government teacher, promotes this event as a development of citizenship and cooperates with the Red Cross and the FFA in conducting the event.

On average, a student who donates one pint of blood will save up to three lives. The American Red Cross supplies 40% of the nation’s blood supply.  The Red Cross provides blood for patients in approximately 2,700 hospitals across the U.S.

The FFA will host this event three times this school year.  A special recognition program was implemented to recognize students who donate blood three times during the last 365 days at FFA, or community blood drives, or who will donate a double red blood cell unit twice in the present school year.  … Continue reading

Three members of the Preble Shawnee FFA Chapter were challenged by their advisor Mrs. Kennel to paint a concrete pig in the 2014 Oinkers for Art Contest. The three FFA members included Samantha Burns, Sawyer Hacker, and Sidney Hacker . Their artistic skills took the honor of Grand Champion. The pig the FFA members designed and painted received the most votes by 2014 Pork Festival goers. The honor earned $100 cash for the Preble Shawnee FFA Chapter. The pig was auctioned off on Saturday evening to Vonderharr Farms.… Continue reading

The September 2014 Miami East FFA Member of the Month is Cody McConnaughey. He is the son of Roger McConnaughey and Stephanie Rudasill. Cody is a second year member of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter.

At the 2014 Miami County Fair Cody exhibited the Grand Champion Shop Project with his restored 1949 Farmall M Tractor. He exhibited additional items in the FFA Shop and Crop Building. Cody has competed in the Greenhand parliamentary procedures contest and sold fruit. His Supervised Agricultural Experience includes job placement on his grandparent’s farm.

Every month of the school year the Miami East FFA will select a student to be the FFA Member of the Month.  The officer team will nominate one student 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 memento in celebration of their accomplishment.… Continue reading

The Shelby FFA stayed busy all day last Friday during their 2014 Field Day. The day started with prep of the shop and table setup for the event and at noon, the students got to sit down and eat lunch with local farmers. While everyone enjoyed an awesome lunch, Adison Niese, Kaitlyn Evans, and Haley Evans were teaching students as well as farmers about modern issues and technologies in agriculture such as superweeds, roundup ready beans, and twin rows. We also had bean plants from our test plot out, so farmers could see how the different populations affected the plant.

After the field day the craziness didn’t end. When the cleanup was done we started the set up for the FFA Tailgate party at the practice field in front of the Shelby Football Field. This tailgate party was in appreciation for anyone who donated to the Shelby FFA Alumni Buyers Club.… Continue reading

The River Valley FFA recently held their annual Greenhand Cookout at Strine Farms. Greenhands were able to come and play games, sit around a fire, and have dinner while getting to know the new officer team and Agricultural Education teacher Ellen Keck.

The 2014-15 officers also had the chance to get to know the freshmen and talked to them about different activities, such as the National FFA Convention in October, and Career Development Events like Creed Speaking and Parliamentary Procedure.

The River Valley FFA is looking forward to a great year in class and the chapter with their Greenhands.… Continue reading

Five Buckeye Central FFA members traveled to Springfield, Massachusetts over a four day period last week to compete in the National FFA’s Eastern Regional Farm Business Management Contest. The National FFA’s Eastern Regional competition includes 18 states from the North Eastern portion of the United States.

Leaving on Thursday the group traveled to Stanfordville, New York where they toured Wheatley Farms – a 600-acre beef cattle farm managed by Travis Pope formerly of Bloomville, Ohio.  Friday morning, the group then traveled up the New England countryside to visit the Eastern States Exposition (BIG E). The Big E is a regional fair playing host to a “state fair” atmosphere for six of the New England states. After much preparation and anticipation on Saturday morning the group of students participated in the National FFA’s Eastern Regional Farm Business Management Competition.

The Farm Business Management Competition tests an FFA members understanding of general business concepts and principles through an extensive testing format.… Continue reading

Hiland FFA recently had a successful week at the 2014 Holmes County Fair. Tanner Neuenschwander, Aaron Nisley, Kelsey Yoder, and Rachelle Yoder showed market hogs through FFA. Tanner Neuenschwander placed second in his class. Nikyta Engstrom placed 4th overall with her pen of 3 market ducks. Tallie Troyer showed a market dairy goat. She placed reserved grand championship for showmanship and 5th for actual judging.

The following FFA members showed through 4-H; Tanner Neuenschwander, Tallie Troyer, Shauna Kline, Grant Mast, Derek Burke, Drew Mast, Regina Nisley, Deanna Shetler, and Blaine Miller. Tanner got reserve grand champion with his market dairy steer. Tallie showed a Holstein senior calf. Grant placed 8th overall with his broilers and also took a beef steer. Derek took a market hog and dairy steer. Drew showed a dairy steer. Regina and Deanna each had a dairy goat.

This past year in FFA the students built shop projects in class.… Continue reading

The Ross County Farm Bureau held their 96th Annual Meeting in The Sunroom at the Brick in Frankfort on Thursday, August 28th.

Five members from the Zane Trace FFA chapter traveled there to attend. Kevin Daubenmire, Karlee Daubenmire, Ashley McCullough, Olivia Pflaumer, and Taylor Stacy were the five FFA members. The students had the opportunity to eat a lot of great food, meet new people, and hear about some of the current issues in the agriculture industry. At the end of the evening’s business session the students helped to distribute the door prizes to attendees who were selected as winners. All of the members had a great time and are excited to attend next year’s meeting.… Continue reading

Earlier this summer, the RG Drage FFA  Chapter traveled to Carrol County to participate in the 1st session of Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum.

The members that participated were Amber Buzaki, Adriana Grimm, Patrick Helwig, and Laura Wood.

There were many activities involving the theme for this year – Indiana Jones. The campers participated in a poverty simulation, heard inspirational words from guest speaker David Kohout, and volunteered on a community service project.

FFA members who attended look forward to sharing their leadership, communication, and team work skills with fellow RG Drage FFA members.… Continue reading

The Marion County Fair was held earlier this year, and  the River Valley FFA had quite a few members showing. The projects ranged from SAE posters to market and breeding livestock.

The annual Sale of Champions had many River Valley FFA members coming through the ring. Those members included Amy Poorman, (Grand Champion Market Turkey), Zach Watkins, (Reserve Champion Market Hog), Josh Strine, (Grand Champion Market Steer), Emma Nicholson, (Grand and Reserve Champion Market Lamb, and Middle Weight Reserve Champion Market Hog), Morgan Seckel, (Reserve Champion BBR Steer), and Jacob Bosley, (Beef Outstanding Market Exhibitor).

The chapter also excelled outside of the market show. Emma Nicholson was the Beef Showman of Showmen, and Morgan Seckel took 1st Place in Intermediate Showmanship. Emma Heimlich was named Senior Shepherd and the 2014 Marion County Jr. Fair Princess.… Continue reading

This summer, the Fort Loramie FFA held a petting zoo at Liberty Days. The petting zoo featured two calves given by Vick and Peg Pleiman, a goat donated by the Minster Veterinary Service, and three rabbits donated by the Tony and Jorgi Hoying family.

Children could also interact with the cut out cow that was featured there. FFA members assisted children with handling rabbits and bottling calves.

The FFA would like to thank all who donated the animals and came to participate in the community event.… Continue reading

During the graduation of Preble Shawnee local  schools, two students were awarded scholarships from the FFA Alumni for  the 2013-2014 scholarship year. Knox Wilson and Brian Ketring were  awarded a five hundred dollar scholarship, courtesy of the Preble Shawnee FFA Alumni,  for their outstanding efforts and contributions to the Preble Shawnee FFA. Although both graduating, they left a footprint in the hallways of Preble Shawnee.… Continue reading