INDIANAPOLIS — Thirteen Norwayne FFA members attended the 2018 National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, Oct. 24-27.
Members started their trip with a tour at the Phoenix baseball bat company in Plain City, Ohio.
At the convention, Norwayne FFA’ers Kayla Gasser, Grant Holcomb, Chase Gasser and Kolton Keener received their American FFA Degrees.
While at the convention, members attended the opening session, attended the Garth Brooks concert, attended the second session and heard the CEO of John Deere speak. Chapter members Emily Croft and Carlie Schlatter walked on stage to receive the National Chapter Award.
During the trip, chapter members toured Blue Springs Cavern, attended the Buckeye Bash, a dance for all Ohio FFA members; and toured the Elanco animal nutrition facility.
On Nov. 8, the chapter’s food science team competed at the district contest.
Norwayne took first place overall, followed by Northwestern, R.G. Drage Career Center, Triway and Smithville. Norwayne and Northwestern will be competing in the state contest Dec. 1 at Ohio State.
Norwayne team members were Tori Ingold, Annie Boss, Carlie Schlatter, Brett Boss, Ellyssa Simmons, Tagen Ingold, Libby Grossniklaus and Halle Miller.
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INDIANAPOLIS — United FFA attended the 91st National FFA Convention in Indianapolis at the end of October.
Chapter honors bestowed during the convention included four American degrees: Kelly Heffinger, daughter of Connie and Jeff Heffinger; McKenzie Walton, daughter of Gary Walton and Stephanie Milhoan; Brooke Hofmeister, daughter of Ronald and Vickie Hofmeister; and Austin White, son of Jen Mitchell and Matthew White.
In addition, chapter president Megan Drake, daughter of Darlynne and Todd Drake, participated in the National FFA Convention talent show and placed in the top 15 out of 200 original acts. She also sang the National Anthem in front of approximately 18,000 members and guests.
In addition to convention activities, the FFA chapter went to Tuttle Orchard where chapter members got to tour an active beehive and apple orchard and cider press. Members also went to the rodeo held at Indiana State Fairgrounds, and attended the Garth Brooks concert with neighboring schools of West Branch, CCCTC, and Southern Local.
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ALLIANCE, Ohio — On Oct. 19, the Marlington FFA chapter held their second annual haunted school. There FFA chapter decorated one hallway in the school and the ag lab and classroom for the event, open to the public.
At the end of the night, members had raised almost $1,000 raised for Akron Children’s Hospital.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Two past members of the Logan Elm FFA received the American Degree: Kenton Dresbach and McKayla Swackhammer. At convention, there were more than 8,000 chapters across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.
Keynote speakers included the CEO of John Deere, Samuel Allen, and President of the U.S., Donald J. Trump.
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MILLERSBURG, Ohio — On Oct. 23, the West Holmes FFA Chapter had 14 members attend the National FFA Convention. Those in attendance were; Ethan Drzazga, Ethan Feikert, Taylor Feikert, Taryn Grassbaugh, Amy Hughes, John Hughes, Drake Mullet, Lexi Ogi, Brayden Schumaker, Tierra Slaubaugh, Rebecca Sprang, Chase Stitzlein, Emma Stitzlein, and Addison Yates.
Chaperoning the field trip was Jaime Chenevey, adviser, and Alison Rogers, the upperclassmen guidance counselor. The other schools that traveled with us were Licking Valley High School, Northwestern High School, and Smithville High School.
First stop on the tour was a dinner boat cruise on the Ohio River. Members also got to tour the University of Kentucky meat lab.
Members learned about how to humanely slaughter animals, as well as the health requirements needed to run a butcher shop.
At the first convention session, members listened to Kyle Schelee speak about his struggle with fitting in and how he overcame that limitation.
At the Lucas Oil Stadium, members got to see country music icon Garth Brooks perform.
Awards received. Members who received the American Dgree were Erik Hanna, Alyx Morris, Becca Vales, and Chris VanSickle. We also had two college early field experience students receive their degrees, Rachel Reichert, and Paige Schaffter.
On the way home from convention, members listened to President Donald J. Trump speak about how much progress the agricultural world has recently made.
John Hughes, senior member of West Holmes FFA, competed at the national level in the proficiency area of Dairy Entrepreneurship.
Hughes chose to do his SAE on his family’s dairy farm, called Open Road Farms, which currently has more than 450 Holsteins, Brown Swiss, and Jerseys.
He owns 14 milk cows and 16 replacement heifers. He is responsible for caring for his cows, as well as working with the other animals on the farm. He received 2nd in the nation.
On Oct. 31, the chapter conducted its annual FFA meeting at Monte and Shannon Rohr’s house. Members decided the Greenhand and Chapter Degree ceremony speaker will be Jane Houin.
They also determined that we would have donuts, cider, cookies, and milk after the ceremony. While we were there, we also discussed the fruit sale and getting involved.
The juniors and seniors planned and conducted the hour-long haunted trail. While on the trail, freshman and sophomores had to crawl through tunnels, duck under wires, and had assortment of food thrown at them.
