FFA News

Grant Hodge and Cody Reid recently competed in the District Agricultural and Industrial Diagnostics (formerly known as Tractor Trouble Shooting) Career Development Event at the Koenig Equipment in Anna. Grant and Cody are both members of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter at Miami East High School.

During the contest the team troubleshot two bugs in each of five tractors. They had to identify the problems and fix them in less than fifteen minutes. Prior to the contest they took a test over tractor maintenance and repair.

A special appreciate goes to coaches and helpers for the training of the team. The lead coach was Denny Zirkle. The team also had practice sessions with Dave Wagner at Wagner Farm Service, Jeff Elsner at Apple Farm Service in Covington, and Kevin Selhorst at North Star Hardware and Implement.

The team placed 9th in the district.… Continue reading

Lisa Gehret, marketing director of the Kenn Feld Group, recently gave a drone presentation to Fort Recovery FFA sophomore students enrolled in the Ag Leadership course.  Gehret explained how drones are being used in agriculture and how the pictures, videos, and maps the drone creates can benefit farmers.  Students in the Ag Leadership course have been studying various technologies used by US farmers and the drone presentation fit in well.  Students loved seeing the drone up close too. The Fort Recovery Agricultural Education department and FFA Chapter would like to thank Lisa Gehret for coming in a talking to the students.

Pictured: Far right is Lisa Gehret, marketing director of the Kenn Feld Group, who recently have a drone presentation to Fort Recovery agricultural students. Pictured L to R are FFA students Jamie Westgerdes, Grace Gehl, Jocelyn Kaiser, Madelyn Roessner, Sydney Alig, Logan Ranly, Chassity Hemmelgarn, and Andrew Homan… Continue reading

The Urbana FFA chapter has been honored to have Mr. Nathan Birkhimer, a student at The Ohio State University, join them this year as their student teacher.

Birkhimer grew up on a sheep farm in Columbiana, Ohio while attending Southern Local High School. In January he officially started his student teaching at Urbana. Before then, he participated in some out of school activities such as Cardboard City, National Convention, and the Pork Loin dinner.

When Nathan was asked why he chose to travel to National Convention in October with the chapter, he stated, ” Not only did I want to see how much had changed since I graduated, but I wanted to meet some of the students that I would be seeing on a daily basis as a student teacher.”

Mr. Birkhimer has also attended urban/rural night, the pancake breakfast, and coaches the livestock judging team.

While talking to students at Urbana about Mr.… Continue reading

The March 2015 Miami East-MVCTC FFA Member of the Month is Grant Hodge. He is the son of Steve and Jenny Hodge of Tipp City. Grant is a senior and fourth year member of the FFA Chapter.

Grant’s involvement in Career Development Events for this school year has been a major asset to his teams and chapter. Recently, he participated in the District Agricultural and Industrial Diagnostics (formally Tractor Trouble Shooting) competition. Grant coordinated many practices for the team. He was also a member of the third in the state Food Science and Technology team and on the seventh in the state in the Agricultural Technical and Mechanical Systems (formally Agricultural Engineering) team. Grant earned the State FFA Degree in 2014.

Grant’s Supervised Agricultural Experience program consists of job placement at S.E. Hodge Farms where is responsible for farming grain and forage crops and raising a herd of beef cattle. Grant participates in the Agricultural Education Department’s Capstone Early Work Release program where he is able to learn employability skills through hands-on learning in the agriculture industry.… Continue reading

Rick Ellerbrock of the Central Ohio Breeding Association (COBA) visited Anna High school recently to share his knowledge of artificial insemination with the Animal Science and Technology class.

The Animal Science and Technology class has been learning about livestock reproduction. They have studied the male and female reproductive tracts as well as many types of breeding that have included natural breeding, embryo transfer, cloning, and artificial insemination (AI).

Ellerbrock came in to teach the class more on artificial insemination in cattle and what it entails from the breeder’s point of view.  He demonstrated the proper techniques for large animals. COBA provided female reproductive tracts for students to practice AI technique. Ellerbrock also informed the students of some of the AI classes he gives and some of the jobs he does which provided the students with additional knowledge of reproduction.

“I learned a lot from Mr. Ellerbrock about Artificial Insemination. It was really neat to see a real female reproductive tract and to practice AI myself,” stated sophomore member Brianna Fanaff.… Continue reading

Three Southeastern FFA students recently competed in FFA public speaking competitions this past month in an effort to develop and improve skills in researching, organizing and delivering a speech on an agricultural topic. In extemporaneous speaking, students draw one of more than 75 topics at the competition before using a 30-minute preparation session to research and compose a speech between four and six minutes in length. Speeches are unprepared in advance of the competition and students must utilize the preparation time to carefully and quickly research topics they have drawn and compile notes and information to be used during the presentation in front of a panel of judges. Judges pose questions to the presenter on the topic after the conclusion of the speech. Lea Kimley placed first at the county competition and then went on to place third at the sub-district and district competitions. Also competing at the county event were Dylan Elliott, who placed third and Madison Carter, who placed fifth.… Continue reading

On February 10th, members of the West Holmes FFA Chapter sent officer books, State and American Degree applications, and proficiency applications to be judged at the district level.

Jason Jenkins (Reporter), Elise Neville (Secretary), and Terry Medley (Treasurer) each received a gold rating on their officer books. They will receive an award at State Convention in May.

10 State and 5 American Degrees were sent to state to be evaluated as well as 16 proficiencies.

State Degrees were: Carter Smith, Will Hughes, Jillian Gurley, Justin Lorentz, Gabe Armstrong, Morgan Hoxworth, Elise Neville, Paige Miller, Jason Jenkins, and Tyler Grassbaugh. American Degrees were: Grayson Miller, Dustin Niehaus, Clay Armstrong, Mandy Taylor, and Beth Klein.

Members who sent proficiency applications were: Carter Smith Beef Entrepreneurship, William Hughes Dairy Entrepreneurship and Star State Farmer, Shyann Kick  Organic Production, Racheal Yerian Small Animal Production, Jillian Gurley Small Animal Production, Tristan Ramseyer Dairy Placement, Chris Sprang Dairy Placeement, Beth Klein Ag Services and Star State Placement, Justin Lorentz Turgrass Management, Dustin Niehaus Agricultural Mechanics Design and Fabrication, Chris Vansickle Diversified Livestock Production, Erik Hanna Diversified Agriculture Production, Gabe Armstrong Forage Production, Michael Klein Grain Production, Morgan Hoxworth Veterinary Medicine, and Elise Neville Nursery Operations.… Continue reading

In a special project during FFA week, Southeastern students and staff participated in a fundraising event called Penny Wars. This event was a competition between all homeroom teachers’ classes where students bring in pennies to credit their own class with points. However, students in other classes could cancel out those points from pennies by depositing silver change and bills. Mrs. DeLong’s class had the most points and received donuts and all the proceeds raised will benefit Children’s Hospital of Dayton. This year, we raised $280 from the event and are looking at opportunities to continue our support in the future. Children’s Hospital is an official charity of the Ohio FFA Association.… Continue reading

On Tuesday, February 24th, Buckeye Central held the District 2 FFA Public Speaking Contest.

The Public Speaking Contest is spread into several sections including extemporaneous, beginning prepared, advanced prepared, creed, and advanced creed.

In the extemporaneous section, FFA students are asked to give a speech on a topic they had received 30 minutes prior.  Kelsey Fife of Lucas received first place in this category.

The next section was beginning prepared. In this contest, the students memorized a previously prepared speech. Morgan Vogt of Shelby won 1st in this category.

The next contest was advanced prepared. In this contest, the students are asked to give a speech on a topic they have already prepared and memorized. This contest is for the upperclassmen. The winner of this contest was Sarah Hunker of Bellevue.

In the creed speaking contest, the students memorize and recite the FFA creed with as much enthusiasm and as little mistakes as possible the presentation of the creed is then followed with questions about the creed and it’s meaning to each contestant. … Continue reading

On February 15th, the Anna FFA Alumni held their annual breakfast at the Anna Elementary. This year’s breakfast was quite successful, serving over 650 meals which included whole hog sausage, eggs, pancakes, yogurt, doughnuts, milk, coffee, and juice. The yogurt that was provided at the breakfast and the mix used to make the juice were donated by Dannon and McDonald’s restaurant, respectively. The Anna FFA would like to thank all those who made this breakfast a success. Without the efforts of members and various volunteers, this event would not be possible.

After the breakfast, a short degree ceremony was held to recognize several Anna FFA members. 72 freshmen students received their Greenhand FFA Degrees and 49 sophomores received their Chapter FFA Degrees. For freshmen to earn their Greenhand FFA degrees they must have a plan for a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) and have a good general knowledge of the FFA Organization.… Continue reading

The Ashland FFA Chapter had a special meeting Monday the 23^rd at 6:30. We had a guest speaker named Mr. Ken Ruprecht from Knox County. Today, Ken and his wife, Marilyn, have concentrated on dairy farming for the last 25 years and milk about 130 cows in Knox County, Ohio. Their farm of 320 acres includes raising hay, corn, soybeans and helping raise 5 grandsons and a granddaughter.

Ken has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Education from The Ohio State University and spent five years teaching Vocational Agriculture. Ken has been actively involved with Farm Bureau, Ohio Dairy Producers Association, The Soil and Water Conservation District and a Township Trustee.

Ken spoke to us about the efficiency-enhancing technologies and how they can greatly reduce resource usage on the farm. Ken also talked to us about how important agriculture and farming is in the world. His personal farm has 130 cows and 135 young stock.… Continue reading

The Fort Loramie FFA chapter celebrated National FFA Week February 17th-20th, 2015. “Go All Out” was this year’s theme, and it celebrates more than 80 years of FFA traditions while eagerly anticipating the organization’s future. More than half a million nationwide members participated in National FFA Week activities at local, state and national levels.

As a part of National FFA Week, Fort Loramie FFA members planned several special events. The week kicked off with “Camouflage Day” on Tuesday and “Dress like your favorite farm animal day” on Wednesday.  On Thursday students decked out in red, white and blue attire for “America Day,” and they ended the week with “Farmer Friday.”

Instead of Ag Olympics, the chapter decided to have lunch time activities. Each day during lunch, there were different contests that students could participate in, and whoever participated got free beef jerky. The contests were between the juniors and seniors, the freshman and sophomores and 8^th graders and 7^th graders.… Continue reading

Three Fort Loramie FFA members competed in the FFA public speaking contest on Tuesday, February 10th.  Members competed and were ranked under categories. The two categories consisted of creed speaking and advanced prepared.

Caitlin Meyer, daughter of Jerry and Paulet Meyer, and Nicole Allen, daughter of Scott and Tracy Allen, participated in the creed-speaking contest.  In the creed contest, first year FFA members are required to recite the FFA Creed from memory to a panel of judges and respond to questions regarding the creed.

Elizabeth Kunkler, daughter of Charlie and Carol Kunkler, competed in the advanced prepared public speaking contest.  In this division, participants are expected to prepare and memorize a 6 to 8 minute speech on an agricultural topic of their choice as well as answer any questions asked by the judges regarding their speech topic.  Kunkler placed second at the sub-district contest and has advanced to the district contest in Fort Recovery on February 17th.… Continue reading

The Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter recently competed in the District 5 Evaluations of the Ohio FFA Association at the Greene County Career Center in Xenia.  Several members of the chapter worked extra hard on their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) record to prepare their applications for awards and degrees.

Three 2014-15 Chapter Officers that submitted books for review. Emily Beal submitted the Secretary’s Book and earned a gold rating . Kelsey Kirchner submitted the Treasurer’s Book and earned a gold rating. Casey Copeland submitted the Reporter’s Book and earned a gold rating. Emily, Kelsey, and Casey will be recognized at the State FFA Convention in May.

Seniors Riann Kingrey, Olivia Edgell, Miranda Maggart, and Allyson Supinger and Juniors Emily Beal, Stephanie Millhouse, Levi Reid, and Hunter Sharp applied for the State FFA Degree. All applications were reviewed and submitted to the state evaluation for further review.

Madeline Davis applied for the District 5 Star State in Agribusiness Award for her business enterprise.… Continue reading

On February 3, 2015, the West Holmes FFA Chapter hosted and participated in the District Ag Sales Competition. The team placed first in the district which qualified them for state on February 21. Individually, Jillian Gurley was 2nd, Shyann Kick was 3rd, Chris Vansickle was 7th, Elise Neville was 8th, and Tory Eggers was 9th.  In Ag Sales the team has to complete a mock sale, complete a prospecting scenario, and take a test over skills in customer relations, advertising, and promotion and merchandise displays.… Continue reading

­­­Students from FFA chapters across Ohio attended the 212^o and 360° Leadership Conferences. These conferences are an activity of the National FFA Organization made possible by title sponsor Syngenta and with additional support from Crop Production Services as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. Alison Grimes, Bryant Stonecash, Chelsea Allen, Becky Allen, Emilie Satterfield, Danielle Thomas, Suzanne Kimball, Grant Killen, Clayton Cruze, Graham Jones, Issac Luce, Erika Gallaher, Andrew Willet, Kelsey Matheny, and Kian Caldwell, all members of the National Trail-MVCTC FFA Chapter attended the event Saturday January 17, 2015.

212° – the temperature at which water boils – focuses on taking students to the boiling point of leadership. At 211° water is extremely hot, but just one more degree gets us to the next level. The two-day 212^o Leadership Conference is focused on student development and helps FFA members become aware of their passions and virtues.… Continue reading

On January 23rd, the Anthony Wayne FFA Alumni hosted its annual Pork Loin Dinner and Silent Auction in the cafeteria of Anthony Wayne High School. Profit from these events goes towards scholarships for FFA members who are graduating and to off set expenses for FFA camp. FFA members helped with the event by selling tickets, donating items for the silent auction, serving food, and cleaning up.… Continue reading

­­­Students from FFA chapters across Ohio attended the 212^o and 360° Leadership Conferences. These conferences are an activity of the National FFA Organization made possible by title sponsor Syngenta and with additional support from Crop Production Services as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Caleb Moore, Blake Rogers, Savannah Schneider, Lacey Hill, Abbey Hill, Sidney Hacker,  and Kaitlyn McGarvey, members of the Preble Shawnee FFA Chapter attended the event on January 17th.

212° – the temperature at which water boils – focuses on taking students to the boiling point of leadership. At 211° water is extremely hot, but just one more degree gets us to the next level. The two-day 212^o Leadership Conference is focused on student development and helps FFA members become aware of their passions and virtues. FFA members attended sessions on discovering their passions, making positive decisions, setting SMART goals and taking steps towards self-improvement.… Continue reading

The Miami East FFA Alumni Chapter is sponsoring a Basket Bingo on Sunday, January 25th at 2 p.m. in the Miami East Junior High Auditeria. Doors will open at 1:30 and guests should enter through the east door of the junior high.

Beautiful and functional Longaberger baskets will be the prize for the 20 games, with the grand prize being a retired basket feature.

Tickets are $20 for the 20 games and a raffle entry. There will also be raffles, extra games, and concessions sales offered. All winning tie-breaking cards win a consolation prize of a Longaberger product.

Tickets can be purchased by calling the Miami East FFA Alumni Chapter at (937) 335-7070 ext. 3212 or by purchasing them at the door.

All funds raised will be donated to the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter in support of their community activities and leadership development.… Continue reading