HOWARD, Ohio — Four members of the East Knox FFA placed second at the state finals of the FFA Nursery/Landscape Career Development Event on March 26 at Delaware Area Career Center.
The team consisting of senior Jesse Wolford, juniors Aiden Kapper and Quentin White and freshman Ava Page. They will represent Ohio in the Eastern States Exposition (Big E) competition in September in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
Individually, Jesse Wolford finished sixth, Aiden Kapper placed seventh, Quentin White was 12th , and Ava Page finished 13th out of 294 competitors. The first and second place students in each of the hands-on event finals were also recognized with East Knox contestants Ava Page and Jesse Wolford placing first in the residential landscape estimating with a score of 89.45 out of 100.
The team will receive a banner for placing second in the state at the Ohio FFA Convention on May 2-3 at the Ohio Expo Center. This is the 25th year that an East Knox FFA Nursery/Landscape CDE Team has placed in the top 10 in the state. They have won the event eight times including five out of the past seven years.
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MILLERSBURG, Ohio — The West Holmes FFA celebrated FFA Week March 18-22. FFA Week is held on a national level in February, but the chapter celebrates in March for better weather and safety of its members. Throughout the week students had dress days and the FFA hosted a petting zoo in the Ag room with different animals each day.
Monday’s dress day was camo day, and there were pigs and goats in the ag room.
Tuesday’s dress day was country kid vs. country club day, and there were rabbits in the Ag room. It was also drive your truck to school day the categories and their winners were as follows: Cleanest, Andi Schuch; Dirtiest, Taelor Patterson; Biggest, Garrett Sampsel; Smallest, Quinn Cornwell; Oldest, Jarrett Schaffer; Newest, Andi Schuch; and Judge’s Choice was Jenna Sheldon.
Wednesday’s was wear your favorite brand day, and there were beef cattle in the ag room. Thursday was blue and gold and official dress day, and there were dairy cattle in the ag room. Friday’s dress day was dress like Derek Miller day, and there were horses in the ag room where students were able to get a cart ride from Chip the pony. Friday was also bring your tractor to school day and a tractor parade was held during the day the winners of each category were as follows: Oldest Keith Hawkins/Trent Mast; Newest, Sam Sprang; Dirtiest, Hayden Smith; Cleanest, Sam Sprang; Smallest, Quentin Vehrs; Biggest Sam Sprang; Judges Choice, Miley Snow and Casey Ogi.
Friday afternoon the chapter held Ag Olympics where several sports and clubs participated in different contests including: bale toss, egg toss, milk the cow, water bucket carry, wheel barrow race, sack race, milk chug and an obstacle course.
MILLERSBURG, Ohio — On March 23, West Holmes FFA members competed at State General Livestock, Poultry, Horse and Dairy Judging contests at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. The dairy team is sitting second in the state after state preliminary contest. Individually Wyatt Schlauch took second place. They will compete in the finals on April 24. Members competing in the Dairy Judging Contest Wyatt Schlauch, Laina Croskey, John Maloney, Tyler Zimmerly, Blake Patterson and Taelor Patterson.
The poultry team placed 24th in the state. Members competing in the Poultry Judging Contest included Grady Hawkins, Gabby Yates, Jenna Sheldon, Logan VanDalen, Andi Schuch and Malia Lennington.
The horse team placed 47th in the state. Members competing were Ian Barr, Landrie Croskey and Bree Pringle.
During General Livestock Contest placed 89th in the state out of 191 teams. Members competing in the contest were Hayden Smith, Derek Miller, Casey Ogi, Miley Snow and Shane Lorentz.
On April 5, the West Holmes FFA competed in the District 2 Outdoor Power Contest hosted at Ag Pro in Millersburg. The team placed 13th at districts. Team members included Jarrett Schafer, Mason Miller, Logan VanDalen and Grady Hawkins.
West Holmes FFA competed in the state Floriculture Contest at the State Fairgrounds on April 15. The team placed 28th in the state. The team included Jenna Sheldon, Bree Pringle, Taelor Patterson and Clair Drzazga.
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PLYMOUTH, Ohio — On, April 13, the Plymouth FFA hosted its annual FFA banquet. Nearly 300 members, supporters, alumni and guests attended. During the banquet, members were given awards and celebrated all their successes and hard work throughout the year, goodbyes were said to members who have helped the chapter achieve so much over the past five years, and the new officers for the upcoming year were installed.
The chapter is also celebrating 100 years of agricultural education during the 2023-2024 school year. The chapter started out small and at the time only boys could join as Shiloh High School served as the home of the first Smith-Hughes Class in Richland County.
Sarah Hoak and Walker Wallace were acknowledged for receiving their American FFA Degrees this fall at the National FFA Convention. President Braden Montgomery gave his retiring address.
The Honorary Member award was given to Tony and Pam Hugel. They are active members of the alumni and have helped for over 20 years. The Honorary Business award was given to Shepherd’s Farm, owned and operated by Dave and Candi Shepherd.
Shepherd Farms has helped harvest and haul the chapter’s grain whenever possible. Dave Shepherd also takes the time to speak with Plymouth classes and has his employees share the latest technology with our students.
Recipients of the Discovery Degree included Makayla Ashby, Xavior Beveridge, Makayla Bowman, Kensley Burrer, Anna Caughenbaugh, Gwen Cave, Destiny Conklin, Nevaeh Conrad, Lucas Distl, Sienna Kennison, Kailynn Leroux, Maliyah Leroux, Carson Lewis, Erika Montry, Blake Oney, Hunter Oney, Lance Rowe, Mason Stine, Lanie Stull, Gus Sutter and Bently Taylor.
Recipients of the Greenhand Degree included Caleb Crouse, Makayla Cunningham, Taylor Dean, Lincoln Distl, Aaliyah Grose, Kamryn Hall, Chiyo Harris, Gabe Hinkle, Gianna Hughes, Luke Kelbley, Seth Love, Kaylee Martin, Presley Martin, Isaiah Miller, Madison Montgomery, Anthony Moore, Benji Oney, Hunter Shepherd, Mya Stine, Kelsey Surgener, Dallas Thompson, Kendyll Tolbert, Ben Trimmer, Adelyn Vorhees, Ashley Watkins and Lilly Weaver.
Recipients of the Chapter Degree included Nicole Beverage, Rylie Edwards, Morgan Follett, Rylee Gowitzka, Alyson Lewis, Miley Linstrum, Dillan Myers, Jaylen Scott, Camryn Wallace, Kristi Yeager, Blake Zidarin
Top four fruit sellers were Nicole Beverage, Jack and Luke Kelbley, Alyson and Carson Lewis and Kristi Yeager. The top five strawberry sellers were Nicole Beverage, Aaliyah Grose, Aly and Carson Lewis, Kristi Yeager and Morgan Follett.
The 2023-2024 Outstanding Students included Nicole Beverage, Kristen Swingle, Katelyn Swingle, Braden Montgomery, Kailyn Leroux, Maliyah Leroux, Makyala Bowman, Luke Kelbley, Isaiah Miller, Matthew Gillum, Kyrsten Caudill, Brianna Flanagan, Kansas Huston, Ava Stine and Zach Miller. The Winner of the 110% award sponsored by AgCredit was Katelyn Swingle.
Ava Stine received a gold rating on her secretary book, Nicole Beverage received a gold rating on her reporter’s book and Kansas Huston received a gold rating on her treasurer’s book. They will all receive golden pins at the upcoming state convention.
The 2024-2025 officer team consists of President Katelyn Swingle; Vice President Kristen Swingle; Secretary Ava Stine; Treasurer Kansas Huston; Reporter Nicole Beverage; Sentinel Isaiah Miller; Student Advisor Dallas Thompson; Historian Matthew Gillum; and Parliamentarian Adelyn Vorhees.
The Plymouth-Shiloh FFA Alumni also gives out scholarships to hard-working members to help them to better afford their college tuition each year.
This year, Sarah Hoak, Douglas Reer, and Haley Felty were granted $1,200 scholarships. Braden Montgomery and Olivia Balkin were awarded $700 alumni scholarships. Braden also earned a $250 scholarship from the Red Cross and the winner of the Stanley Caudill Memorial scholarship was Olivia Balkin.
