FFA News

In early June, six members of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter attended the first session of Ohio FFA Camp Muskingum, Carrollton, Ohio. Members attending included: Katie Bodenmiller, Daniel Everett, Jessica Gillum, Couy Moreland, Morgan Moreland, and Alex Zapadka. There were over 230 campers in attendance with additional State FFA Officers, FFA Camp Staff, and dozens of FFA Advisors from across the state.

The 2016 theme was an Olympic-themed week of “Gold Jackets, Gold Medals.” During the week members also participated in various sports tournaments involving softball, sand volleyball, basketball, tetherball, horse shoes, ping pong, and corn hole. Additional competitions included group presentations on recycling, reciting of the FFA Camp Creed, rifle, shotgun, and archery. Each morning, before breakfast, campers had the opportunity to plunge into the lake or take a sunrise walk.

During the first day members met fellow members in their camp country, camp rules, and participated in a dance.… Continue reading

The 48th annual West Muskingum FFA Banquet Was held May 13th, 2016.  Dinner was provided by the FFA Chapter, North Valley Bank, and the families of the students in the West Muskingum FFA. After the meal, President Evan Iden installed State Representative Brian Hill as our 2016 Honorary Chapter Degree Recipient. Representative Hill helped our school to secure partial funding with Zane State College to upgrade our agricultural facility.

We awarded our Fruit Sale Awards from the 2015 fruit sale. 1st Place went to Madisyn Farus;2nd Place to Joey Suchland; 3rd Place to Ryan Davis; 4th Place to Karrie Kokensparger and 5th Place to Alexis Jenkins. We recognized our career development participants from the school year, presenting them with certificates to signify their participation. As a chapter earned District Plaques for placing 5th place or higher in CDE’s during the year. Those were earned for District Forestry, District Urban Soils, Wildlife Identification and Nature Interpretation.… Continue reading

The Benjamin Logan FFA recently held their annual banquet to showcase their accomplishments from the past year.

The members and their families listened to Dale Minyo and his speech on “The World is Run by Those Who Show Up” and Mary Buehler, Ohio FFA State Vice President, about getting involved in FFA activities as much as members can in her speech, “Shoes.”

The chapter recognized many members for their achievements. Star Freshman awards were awarded to Christian Blumenschein and Landon Wenger. Sarah Seeley and Marissa Miller received the Star Greenhand for their accomplishments. Kaylene Harpest received the Star Junior award for her achievements. The chapter awarded Erica Wilson with the Star Chapter Farmer award, Grace Barger with the Star Chapter Agribusiness, and Jessie Griffin with the DEKALB Agricultural Accomplishment Award. Kaylene Harpest, Marissa Miller, and Sarah Seeley were recognized for receiving gold rating on National Chapter. Adam Black, Saul Boysel, Noah Henry, and Kaylene Harpest were recognized for receiving their State Degrees and will be recognized on May 6th in Columbus.… Continue reading

The Anna FFA Chapter made a trip to Columbus for the annual State FFA Convention on May 5th and 6th. The two day event was extremely busy for the students and advisors of the Anna FFA Chapter with various presentations, interviews and award ceremonies to be attended.

Four members of the Anna FFA Chapter were named finalists in their Proficiency areas.  The proficiency awards are based on the students’ SAEs. Shaun Wenrick was first in Landscape Management in the state. Kristin Grimes placed fourth in Small Animal Production. Mary Buehler placed third in Vegetable Production. Casey Guisinger placed third in Diversified Horticulture. The Anna FFA was proud to see its members receive recognition for their SAEs at state convention this year.

Shaun was also named as one of two state finalist for the State Star in Agribusiness award. This is an award recognizing only the elite FFA members of Ohio. Shaun went through an interviewing process and won the Star State award.… Continue reading

The Mount Gilead FFA chapter took 25 members to the 88th annual FFA State Convention May 5th and 6th. To start off their time at convention, members toured at the Ohio State University OBIC Bioproducts Innovation Center and the Byrd Polar Research Center. While their members learned about the various opportunities to pursue a college degree in agriculture and environmental sciences.

Later at the Ohio Expo Center, several members received awards. Mt. Gilead FFA was well represented with Bailey Gompf winning 1st place in Diversified Livestock Production, and was the runner-up in

Diversified Agriculture Production. She also placed 3rd in Beef Production Entrepreneurship. Tyler Beck finished 2nd in Forest Management and Products. Derek Barker was 3rd place in Swine Production Entrepreneurship. All of them are multiple year state finalists with their SAE projects. In total the three have had 11 state proficiency top four finishes, three State Degrees, and three American Degrees.… Continue reading

On a crisp early morning in May, Nikyta Engstrom, Natalie Lovell, Hunter Mast, Tallie Troyer, and Diane Yoder of the Hiland FFA Chapter went to State Convention, held in Columbus. On the first day of their trip, the members helped out at the Ohio FFA community service project. The Ohio FFA Fights Hunger project involved  the FFA members by having them pack food into boxes and sent them to people in need of food. The process of making the food was: first the package of cheese, macaroni, and soy protein went into the bag, and someone weigh it to a certain amount. Next, someone sealed the bag, and put an expiration date on it. In Ohio, there are 1,951,880 food problems, and Ohio is 1 out of 8 states that has food insecurity rates higher than the average. During the convention 88,000 meals were prepared for the hunger project. Thanks to Pioneer Seed, Ohio Corn & Wheat, United Country Real Estate, and Ohio Poultry Association the event was a huge success.… Continue reading

Les Disher was a man of integrity who invested a great amount of time into Anthony Wayne FFA members. He believed in agriculture and the importance of building leaders through the FFA. Everything in his life emulated an excellence leader. As a result, the Anthony Wayne FFA Chapter recently honored Disher for his service.

Over the years, Les has helped coach the Anthony Wayne FFA Meats Career Development Team and judged local carcass contests. He also assisted students with their sheep projects, employed students to assist with landscaping, and chaperoned FFA conventions. He was an Anthony Wayne FFA and Ohio FFA honorary degree recipient. He truly helped students live out the FFA mission of premier leadership, personal growth, and career success. His legacy will live on through the many students he impacted. As a result, this year the Anthony Wayne FFA chapter started the Les Disher Leadership award.

The recipient of this award was senior Jacob Gase.… Continue reading

The Mount Gilead FFA chapter recently held its annual FFA Banquet. There were over 350 members, parents, teachers, administrators and community members present at this year’s event.  During the banquet, member elected new officers for the 2016-2017 year, gave out Honorary Member Awards, Top Class Awards, recognized the top CDE participants and teams, Dekalb Award recipient, awarded the Star Chapter Greenhand, Chapter Star Farmer, Chapter Star in Agricultural Placement, 4 year membership recipients, 110% Award winner, Proficiency Awards, American Degrees, State Degrees, and Booster Scholarships.

Dylan Pangborn received a Gold Rating on the chapters Treasurer’s Book and will be recognized at the State FFA Convention. Top Class Awards were awarded to Freshman Joseph (Xavier) Nells, Sophomore Molly Trapani, Junior Andrew Gardner, and the top Senior was Lauren Miller.

The following individuals were recognized as being four year members: Ben Hayes, Taylor King, Dustin McAvoy, Lauren Miller, Michael Mollohan, Jason Robinson, Tim Scaff, Sawyer Shipman, and Bobby Starlin.… Continue reading

The Miami Trace FFA Chapter, a satellite program of Great Oaks Career Campuses, recently attended the State FFA Convention held at the Ohio State Expo Center on May 5th and 6th. The Chapter attended convention sessions, and listened to four guest speakers Tiana Tozer, Dave Roever, Jones Loflin, and Sydney Snider, Eastern Region National VP . These speakers entertained the crowd and gave inspiring messages that helped improve member’s leadership skills.

Miami Trace excelled this year in State Career Development Events, State Degrees, and Proficiency Awards. The chapter had four teams place within the top five in the state in Career Development Events this year. The teams include the Agronomy Team, the Grain Merchandising  Team, the Novice Parliamentary Procedure Team, and the Nature Interpretation Team. The thirteen State Degree recipients were Thomas Bondurant, MaKayla Eggleton, Hannah Ellenberger, Gavin Harper, Todd Peterson, Marissa Sheets, and Clare Sollars. Proficiency Award winner recipients were Riley Evans – 1st in Poultry Production, Kameron Rinehart- 3rd in Home and Community Development, and Brock Wilt – 3rd in Nursery Operations.… Continue reading

Eight members of the Arlington FFA Chapter traveled to State Convention May 4th-6th. During the trip they toured the Radnor Grain Elevator, and The American Whistle Corporation, as well as the Ohio State University Plant Pathology Lab and Waterman Dairy Farm. On May 5th and 6th, they attended convention sessions that had inspirational speakers and were recognized for their accomplishments over the past year. The chapter received commendations for raising $467.28 for Nationwide Children’s  Hospital as well as for raising $200 for CROP/CWS World Hunger Relief through their peanut sales during football games. They also attended a session where Colton Kidd was awarded his State FFA Degree. Colton is the son of Craig and Becky Kidd. The State Degree is the highest honor the State FFA can bestow upon its members. Colton Kidd is the first Arlington FFA member to receive this award since 2010. To earn the State Degree, you must earn and have productively invested at least $1,000 or worked at least 300 hours in excess of scheduled class time.… Continue reading

Ohio Ag Net Student Reporter Kolt Buchenroth caught up with Mary Buehler, the newly elected Ohio FFA State President for 2016-2017, immediately following her installation as the leader of the association.… Continue reading

Ohio FFA President Matthew Klopfenstein gave an inspirational retiring address in the final session of the 2016 Ohio FFA Convention. In addition, new officers were announced and 837 State Degrees were presented.

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President: Mary Buehler, Anna

Vice president: Meredith Oglesby, Hillsboro

Secretary: Josie Montoney, Amanda-Clearcreek

Treasurer: Evan Smith, Bloom-Carroll

Reporter: Lauren Grover, Hillsboro

Sentinel: Johnathon Cottingim, Preble Shawnee

Vice President at Large: Ryan Matthews, Fredericktown

Vice President at Large: Maggie Hovermale, Stoneridge

Vice President at Large: Trisha Seckel, River Valley

Vice President at Large: Kameron Rinehart, Miami Trace

Vice President at Large: Ryan Matthews, Fairfield… Continue reading

The Fourth General Session featured presentations Ohio’s representative on the National FFA Officer Team Sydney Snider, creed speaking contest winner Austin Becker from Fairbanks, and prepared speaking winner Josie Montoney from Amanda Clearcreek. CDE winners, top Ohio officers and agriscience fair recognition and state officer parents were recognized.

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Ohio Ag Net & Ohio’s Country Journal Student Reporter Jarrett Crowthers spoke with Gus Mitchem and Kelly  Morgan, workshop presenters at the 2016 Ohio FFA Convention.… Continue reading

Four National FFA Officers were part of the 88th Ohio FFA State Convention and The Ohio Ag Net FFA student reporters had a chance to visit with them.

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The Third Session of the 88^th Ohio FFA Convention was all about never giving up, and amplifying your actions. After a lip sync battle and inspirational video of a mouse in a trap, we enjoyed opening ceremonies and the start of the session. We began with awarding the Gold Medal chapters in Ohio and gave awards for the Top 10 Chapters for Student, Chapter, and Community Development. The Top 10 Chapters Overall was also awarded.

The keynote speaker for this session was past 1986-87 National Officer, Jones Loflin. He spoke on what motivates/electrifies you, and also how you will show your impact on the world. We ended the morning with proficiency awards and the talent show. Awards from the talent show will be posted after the next session recap.

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In the Second General Session the Stars over Ohio, Clay Gerfen, Ridgemont Star Farmer; Maggie Hovermale, Stoneridge-Pickaway Ross, Star in Agricultural Placement; Shaun Wenrick, Anna, Star in Agribusiness; and Nathanael Freeman, Zane Trace, Star in Agriscience were announced. In addition, national winners were recognized, honorary state degrees were announced, and the first set of proficiency winners were announced as well. Wounded military veteran Dave Roever provided a very inspirational message as the keynote speaker.

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Ohio proficiency winners were announced in the Second Session. Here are the winners:… Continue reading