Hillsdale FFA banquet celebrates its litany of chapter, personal awards

JEROMESVILLE, Ohio – The Hillsdale FFA held its annual parent-member banquet April 14 at Hillsdale High School. The night included guest speaker Hannah Crossen, Ohio FFA president, and a slide show of this year’s events.
Certificates of appreciation were awarded to those individuals who helped the FFA chapter throughout the year. Honary Chapter Degrees were awarded to Darrin and Tisha Bookman, Kevin Reidy, Ryan and Renee Twining, Aaron Atterholt and Mick and Ellen Heiby.
Jeff Jacobs received the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor a chapter can bestow on a nonmember.
Scholarships. Tiffany Heiby, Hannah Fulk, Mike Dyer and Jed Bookman all received scholarships for having the highest grade point average in their ag classes.
Five members received proficiency awards for exceptional accomplishment and excellence in a supervised agricultural experience program. Michelle Funk completed the Dairy Production award, placing first in the district and receiving a bronze rating at the state level.
Lindsey Raubenolt completed the Emerging Agricultural Technology award, placing first in the district and receiving a sliver rating at the state level.
Greg Heiby completed the Poultry Production award, placing second in the district and receiving a gold rating at the state level.
Heather Heffelfinger completed the Sheep Production award, placing first in the district and receiving a gold rating at the state level. Jed Bookman completed the Accounting award, placing second in the district and receiving a silver rating at the state level.
Team placings. At the past year at the Ohio FFA Convention, the grain merchandising team placed fifth out of 42 teams.
The Hillsdale FFA had two teams compete at the regional level at the Big E in Massachusetts. The dairy foods team placed third out of seven teams. The dairy cattle team placed fourth out of 10 teams.
The parliamentary procedure team placed fifth in the state and the nursery and landscaping team placed third in the state.
This year, the chapter had two members participate in the state job interview contest. Megan Harned placed fourth in the senior division and Addie Runkle placed first in the junior division, putting her in the top five in the state. She will participate in the overall state contest at the State FFA Convention in May.
The agricultural sales team placed second in the state.
This year the food science and technology team placed third in the state. In the dairy cattle contest, the team placed first in the state, which qualifies them to compete in at the National FFA Convention in October.
In the dairy foods contest, the team placed second in the state, qualifying them to compete in the Big E.
In the poultry contest, the team placed first in the state, qualifying them to participate in the National FFA contest in October.
In the agronomy contest, the team placed second, which qualifies them to compete at the Big E this fall.
Star awards. Melissa Whitcomb was awarded the Dekalb Leadership award and Travis Esbenshade received the Chapter Leadership award.
The Star Greenhand was Tiffany Heiby and the Star Chapter member was Jed Bookman. Greg Heiby was the Star in Ag. Business.
Five members received their State FFA Degrees at the State FFA Convention May 5. They include: Addie Runkle, Mike Dyer, Chris Schwan, Lauren Jacobs and Megan Farquhar.
New officers. The night concluded with the induction of the 2007-2008 officer team: Hannah Fulk, president; Erin Ebert, vice president; Carla VanGilder, secretary; Addie Runkle, treasurer; Kelsey Haas, reporter; Cody Raudebaugh, sentinel; Michelle Funk, student adviser; Kristin Flickinger, parliamentarian; Mike Dyer, historian; and Zeth Hawley, chaplain.