SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Haleigh Stoller, the 2020 Ohio FFA state treasurer, came to Northwestern High School Feb. 10 to present workshops to Northwestern FFA members about resilience, adaptability, and positivity. Her wise words were very beneficial to the members, as they learned more about the valuable characteristic of perseverance they each possess.
Three members of the Northwestern FFA chapter competed in the district public speaking contest Feb. 12 at Norwayne High School. Haley Wilson placed second in the beginning prepared speech contest. Jordan Melegari placed first in the extemporaneous division. Kara McKay placed fourth in the beginning prepared speech contest. Hannah Wilson placed fifth in the FFA Creed speaking contest.
The Northwestern-Wayne FFA chapter traveled to Snow Trails Feb. 10 to go tubing with other FFA chapters from around the area. Members who attended the event from Northwestern were Kaleb Badger, Austin Beegle, Alex Borton, Hayden Cline, Jacoby Gilbert, Randal Jeffery, Treyton Jester, Dugan Mclaughlin, Kaitlyn Praisler, Gabby Ream, Kade Tegtmeier and Craig Wellert. There were nine FFA chapters and a total of 146 kids that participated, including members of the Smithville, Triway, Norwayne, West Holmes and Hiland FFA chapters.
Members of the Northwestern FFA chapter competed in the District Ag Power and Diagnostics Career Development event Feb. 12. Craig Wellert and Cole Wharton placed first and qualified for the state competition. This group spent hours diligently studying and learning to ensure that they were successful.
On Feb. 11, the Northwestern FFA chapter handed out more than 40 degrees to first and second year FFA members. The Greenhand Degree is a degree given to the first year FFA members that meet standards set by the Chapter, State and the National FFA Organization, and 32 members received this degree.
They were Nihad Al-Jamal, Kaleb Badger, Kirsten Boreman, Angelina Bourgea, Grace Bowen, Carissa Brinker, Aubrey Browning, Haley Caldwell, Hayden Cline, Autumn Duncan, Taylor Fetherolf, Audrey Franks, Jacoby Gilbert, Andrew Hatfield, Owne Hoffman, Landen Horst, Melanie Imhoff, Randall Jeffery, Maddie Jester, Jade Marcum, Riley Massengill, Sebastian Nussbaum, Gabby Ream, Zane Shank, Trent Sigler, Ava Stoller, Kade Tegtmeier, Nick Tomechko, Troy Tope, Lauen Vaughan, Preston Wilcox and Hanna Wilson.
The Chapter Degree is for second year members that meet standards set by the Chapter, State and the National FFA Organization.
These standards include giving a 6-minute speech, leading a class discussion and investing 50 hours or earning $150 in an approved Supervised-Agriculture-
They were Jadeyn Berry, Arianna Borton, Cassidy Cornell, Rylee Dawson, Zoey Dudte, Avery Garver, Mariah Hill, Sammy Hites, Jameson Holtz, Carley LeMaster, Kara McKay, Dugan McLaughlin, Tori Rogers and Colt Slanczka.
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WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — The Miami Trace/Great Oaks FFA members took part in various career development events over the past two weeks including public speaking and ag sales. These contests culminated in a the district competition Feb. 18 at Ross Butler Tech High School.
In the ag sales competition, students demonstrate skills in sales by participating in a wide range of activities oriented around the total sales process. This year students were assigned a product in the landscape design field of agriculture and as a team developed a sales strategy to solicit customers for their designated product.
The team members were Weston Pettit, Blayne Ferguson, Madison Johnson and Kelsey Pettit. The team placed seventh at the district competition.
Members also competed in the public speaking competition. The participants included Aubrey Schwartz, Tori Waits and Emily Moser. In the extemporaneous category, Schwartz placed first at sub districts and seventh at districts.
The extemporaneous category involves a random draw of agriculture related topics. Students then have 30 minutes to prepare their speech before giving it to a panel of judges.
In the advanced prepared division, members prepare a lengthy speech about an agriculture related topic then answer questions.
Waits presented her speech, entitled What’s at Steak? A consumer look at the beef production industry. She placed first at sub district competition and third at the district level.
In the beginning prepared public speaking category, Moser placed second at sub districts with her speech about urban agriculture.
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The West Muskingum FFA Chapter had one team compete in the District 8 Ag Sales competition at West Muskingum High School Feb. 11. The team that competed consisted of RJ Knox, Austyn Erwin, Braydin White and Cheyenne Clippinger.
The contest consisted of a team activity where they determined a pre-call plan for meeting a sales client, and then an individual sales presentation trying to sell benches to a representative from local businesses. The team placed second in the district and will advance to the state contest.
Individually, Knox placed second, Erwin placed fourth, White placed fifth and Clippinger placed sixth in the district.
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KINNIKINNICK, Ohio — On Feb. 18, Charlie Woods and Colby Forcum, members of the Zane Trace FFA chapter, competed in the District 7 Agricultural Power Diagnostics Career Development Event. This event allows students the opportunity to try their hand at troubleshooting problems with late model farm and industrial power equipment.
The event, which was held at Franklin Equipment in Groveport, allowed students to work with skid-steers, dump vehicles, farm tractors and ditch digging equipment. Woods and Forcum placed sixth in the event.
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NEW LONDON, Ohio — Two members of the West Holmes FFA Chapter represented the group at North Central Ag Feb. 11.
Senior Brayden Shumaker and junior Addison Yates were competing in the District 2 Tractor Troubleshooting Career Development Event.
This event is where a piece of equipment is purposefully disabled and it is up to the two teammates to troubleshoot the piece of equipment and get it up and running in as little time as possible. They are scored on accuracy and safety.
The team placed second out of three teams. The boys will compete at the University of Northwestern Ohio for the state contest next.
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ohio — The Fayetteville FFA Chapter attended the 212/360 Leadership Conference Jan. 19-20 in Columbus to “reach their boiling point” in knowledge about leadership. Nine members attended, including Colby Barber, Kaylee Burton, Morgan Cole, Jake Corsmeier, Evan Grant, Jordan Lawson, Jordan Mechlin and Sarah Wolfer.
On Jan. 30, Fayetteville FFA officer books went through evaluations and all officers received a perfect score Gold Rating. Secretary Kennedy Short, treasurer Griffin Brinkman and reporter Lilly Beebe will be recognized on stage at the Ohio FFA State Convention in May.
