ALBANY, Ohio — The Alexander FFA chapter is working on completing SAE record books, filling out State and American Degree applications and Proficiency Award applications. Several members are preparing themselves for upcoming Career Development Events competitions.
BELOIT, Ohio — West Branch FFA took part in raising money for the Baker family by collecting money in cans during high school lunch periods. They raised $1,000. The FFA matched the amount of money, making the total $2,000.
OBERLIN, Ohio — This year the Firelands FFA chapter was involved in a food drive project called Harvest for America. The chapter teamed up with its local Tractor Supply Company to collect non-perishable food for the less fortunate for the holiday season.
The drive was a huge success with the hard work and determination of the students and community members donating food.
With a total of 1792.3 pounds collected, the club is helping 91 families in the Firelands district.
Our first week of the can food drive the club collected 250 pounds of food, the second week 592.2 pounds and during the third week, 779.1 pounds.
Of this amount, 150 pounds and $150 were donated from the varsity basketball program. Firelands certified and classified staff also made monetary donations to purchase hams and turkeys for these families in need.
The FCCLA collected canned goods during the Christmas season and the FFA recorded the poundage and delivered the food for them. This added another 171 pounds of food to the overall amount.
The chapter also sponsored three families for its Christmas Family Project.
The chapter members competed against each class period to raise the most money during a two week period. Sixth period, Agriscience III & IV students, won with an average of over $16 dollars per person. All together the chapter members raised $874.
Any extra money was put into gift cards for food and gas for the parents.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Two students from the Laurel FFA chapter have been awarded Keystone Degrees. They received the degree at the Pennsylvania State Farm Show’s Mid-Winter FFA Convention Jan. 11.
The two keystone degree recipients were Martin Dale Barletto and Emily McKissick.
Barletto is 17 and the son of Anthony Barletto and Linda Barletto. The SAE projects he has completed are Beef Finishing and Work Experience Off the Farm and his CDEs are Forestry, Public Speaking, Nursery Landscape and Meat Evaluation.
He has held the office of student advisor and is now the chaplain. He plans to attend Penn State and major in Information Science Technology.
McKissick is 18 and is the daughter of Robert and Brenda McKissick. Her SAE project is Dairy Herd. Her CDEs are Dairy Cattle Judging, Livestock Judging and Creed Speaking. She has held the office of chaplain.
In the future she plans on attending Slippery Rock University to pursue a four-year degree in business or education.
Amanda Lubich and Valerie Simko were also awarded and received FFA jackets for winning an essay contest on “What the FFA jacket means to me.”
Other special events at the Pennsylvania State Farm show were the performances of the Spartan Wranglers square dance team and the demonstration by the Laurel FFA.
The Spartan Wranglers competed with 60 other teams and went home receiving the third place white ribbon. The team consisted of Devin Miller, Kaitlyn Lantz, Ethan Wilson, Brandy Smail, Dalton Valenti, Shyanna Adams, Philip Richards, Sarah Wilson, Kristin Sipe and Tori Richards. The team was coached by Karlee Farone and the assistant coach was Linda Barletto.
The Demonstration Team consisted of Marty Barletto, PowerPoint constructor, Tyler Anderson, prop director and the team of Caitlyn Leasure, Jessica Jones, Ryan Arblaster and Devin Miller. They were coached by Joe Goodge and received sixth place.
JEROMESVILLE, Ohio — On Jan. 12, the Hillsdale FFA chapter competed at the District Nursery and Landscaping CDE at Pioneer Career Center.
Hillsdale placed first in the district and will compete at the state contest Jan. 27.
Competing for Hillsdale were Jeff Stimmell, first individually; Hannah Shock, second individually, Mariah Glass and Richard Sheaffer.
MAPLETON, Ohio — The Mapleton FFA chapter wanted to support those less fortunate this holiday season. To do so the chapter decided to participate in the Adopt a Family project.
The chapter has collected food items for this purpose for several years. This season, Ross Patton and Kyle Zimmerman were captains of the Adopt a Family teams. They asked fellow students to participate in the charity and to support their community.
The teams accumulated enough food to support two needy families over the holiday season.
