OBERLIN, Ohio — Don Sabella, 2018 Lorain County JVS Landscape and Greenhouse Management alum from Amherst, was recently awarded the American Degree.
Sabella, a 2020 Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute grad, currently works as a grower at Buckeye Fresh in Medina.
Sabella is the fourth JVS student to receive this honor. In addition to the degree, Sabella received a gold American FFA Degree key.
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ZANESVILLE, Ohio — The West Muskingum FFA chapter competed in State Urban Soils, placing 82nd overall, and State Agricultural Soils, placing 121st overall, Oct. 20.
Officer inductions were held Oct. 22. The 2019-2020 officers were recognized and presented with retiring officer plaques, and retiring president Ashley Miller gave her retiring address. The 2020-2021 officers: Caden Keck, president; Daelynn Gard, vice president; Chole Armstrong, secretary; Cheyenne Clippinger, treasurer; Madison Elson, reporter; and Austyn Erwin, sentinel.
All 63 FFA members in the chapter participated in the first ever virtual National Convention Oct. 27-29.
Four members were awarded American Degrees Oct. 28. These members were Tyler Hill, Andy Minosky, Cayden Porter and Joey Suchland.
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HANOVERTON, Ohio — The United FFA held its second meeting of the school year. Members are still having meetings outside under a pavilion to practice social distancing.
At this meeting, members discussed community jobs like leadership, career success and stakeholder engagement. For the fruit sale promotion, they put up fliers. Members are active on social media, and they will be holding a pizza party. The adviser will be offering bonus points to those who participate.
Members would also like to join the Key Club to do community service. Career success juniors and seniors would like to go to career fairs. Stakeholder engagement would like to encourage everyone to participate in new groups.
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ASHLAND, Ohio — The Crestview FFA’s, Rural and Urban Soils teams recently competed in district and state competitions.
At the district level, the Urban Soils team placed seventh as a whole, and Starbella Cordrey placed 15th individually. Baileigh Cordrey placed 27th, Makayla Spoerr placed 33nd, Rylynn Baker placed 36th, Audrey Oliver placed 37th and Masson Sanders placed 40th.
At the district level, the Rural Soils team placed sixth as a team. Austin Barcroft placed 17th, Tarynn Eagle placed 30th, Kylee Owens placed 31st, Jake Smith placed 37th, Morgan Eagle placed 41st and Zoe Metzger placed 43rd.
At the state level, the Urban Soils team placed 63rd out of 108. Starbell Cordrey placed 241st, Baileigh Cordrey placed 330th, Oliver placed 346th, Grayson Littleton placed 392nd, Sanders placed 413th and Baker placed 439th individually.
The Rural Soils team placed 75th out of 164 teams. Barcroft placed 251st, Spoerr placed 436th, Jake Smith placed 547th, Owens placed 560th, Tarynn Eagle placed 603rd, Payton Eichelberger placed 608th, Frankie Dismore placed 632nd, Ben Smith placed 707th, Gavin Cains placed 932nd and Ellie Powell placed 1,004th.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Nine winners of the 2020 Agricultural Proficiency Winners were named during the 93rd National FFA Convention & Expo Oct. 27, which was held virtually.
Local recipients are:
Agricultural processing — entrepreneurship/placement: Creed Ammons, of the Tyler FFA chapter, in West Virginia. Ammons started his entrepreneurship ham and bacon curing and processed retail pork SAE as a freshman. He also raises and processes fresh holiday turkeys, meeting a large demand in his community. He uses a facility at his school’s agricultural education program at no cost.
Agricultural sales — placement: Austin Timmerman, of the Versailles FFA chapter, in Ohio. Timmerman has a job placement at Superior Implement and Supply Company, a wholesale distributor of farm, lawn and garden equipment through Ohio, Indiana, New York and Pennsylvania.
His responsibilities have grown from shipping, filling orders, mowing/landscaping and stocking inventory to utilizing software to inventory stock, testing new equipment and customer service.
Poultry production — entrepreneurship/placement: Michael Bair, of the Miami East MVCTC FFA chapter, in Ohio. Bair raises and markets pasture-raised, certified organic broilers at virtual markets through on-farm cash sales and local farmers markets.
He was motivated to start this business after helping his family expand a segment of their organic dairy. He also has a job placement at the family’s organic 120-laying hen farm.
Veterinary science — entrepreneurship/placement: Bailey Lowe, of the Felicity-Franklin FFA chapter, in Ohio. Lowe has always had an interest in animals, but her experience was limited to mainly feeding and bathing dogs and cats. In her sophomore year in high school, she was hired as a kennel attendant at a local veterinary clinic.
Her duties required her to feed, water, and walk domestic animals in addition to giving them medications and vaccinations. She is also responsible for bathing the animals upon departure, trimming their nails and cleaning their ears. Lowe even completed a daily clinic census to assess the state of the facility.
The National FFA Organization also recognized the 2020 National FFA Agriscience Fair winners for Animal and Environmental Services and Natural Resource Systems during the first session of the convention.
The local winners are:
Animal Systems, Division 4: Teylor Meyer and Lillian Hughes, of the Covington-UVCC FFA, of Ohio.
Power, Structural and Technical Systems, Division 2: Kaylee Jennings and Joanna Hamilton, of the Felicity-Franklin FFA, of Ohio.
Plant Systems, Division 1: Joscelyn Layman, of the Millcreek-West Unity FFA, of Ohio.
