MILLERSBURG, Ohio — West Holmes FFA held a meeting Sept. 23 at The Farm at Walnut Creek.
Before the meeting members toured The Farm at Walnut Creek on horse wagons and got to feed and pet the animals.
President Andi Schuch called the meeting to order; secretary Garrett Fowler read the meeting minutes, and reporter Jenna Sheldon, treasurer Shane Lorentz and sentinel Logan Van Dalen gave officer reports. Committee reports were also given: Keston McKinney gave the earnings and savings committee report; Easton Uhl gave the social and recreation committee report; Emma Eberhard gave the membership development committee report; Grady Hawkins gave the SAE committee report, and Dylan Sours gave the community service committee report.
During the remainder of the meeting, the chapter devised a plan for designing and purchasing chapter T-shirts and sweatshirts, decided to send members to the National FFA Convention and set up a payment plan, planned its annual fruit sale and set incentives, agreed to send the Dairy Judging Team to the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin and pay for its entry fees and one meal, moved to send seniors to Denver for the National Western and set a deposit amount, decided to participate in the antique festival and pay for supplies, set a due date for fall sale money, planned its October meeting and determined the details of upcoming events: a fall trap shoot was set for Oct. 5, Greenhand Lock-In will be Nov. 9-10, Greenhand Initiation will be Nov. 13 and Carter Boyd will speak and All-In Day with OSU Extension, Ohio Farm Bureau and Holmes County Jobs and Family Services will be on Nov. 13.
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SULLIVAN, Ohio — Black River FFA recently held its annual New Member Cookout for new Greenhand members and their families in the school gym.
The event included an informational session for parents, dynamic leadership games and activities for new members and a slideshow showcasing last year’s events during dinner.
Additionally, attendees celebrated the election of the new junior officer team. Brayden Lawhon is the senior student advisor. Jayden Young is the junior secretary. Emma Macfarlane is the junior treasurer. Ady Coffman is the junior reporter. Caleb Howard is the junior sentinel.
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HOWARD, Ohio — The East Knox FFA Agricultural Soils Career Development Event team placed 12th in the state event held Oct. 12 in Union County north of Plain City on the Dave Gruenbaum farm.
The team members were Blake Elliott, Braylon Evans, Isabelle Bostic and Weston Bostic. Evans finished as the 39th, Isabelle Bostic finished 46th, Elliott finished 52nd and Weston Bostic finished 91st out of 181 competitors from across Ohio.
East Knox earned a berth in the state agricultural contest after placing third out of 19 teams in the District 7 contest conducted in Ross County near Londonderry. In that contest, Evans was sixth, Elliott was seventh, Isabelle Bostic was ninth, Weston Bostic was 17th and Rylan Winkler was 18th out of 89 individuals.
The state is divided into 10 FFA districts, and the top five teams in each district advance to the state competition making a field of 50 teams.
Prior to the district contest, East Knox FFA placed first in the county event held at Fowler Farm south of Amity and sponsored by the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District.
HOWARD, Ohio — Four East Knox FFA members competed in the Knox County FFA Job Interview Career Development Event at Mt. Vernon High School on Oct, 16.
Alexia Wine finished third in the freshmen contest, Miranda Fawcett placed third in the sophomore contest, Ariel Atkinson finished third in the junior contest and first-year junior/senior Ariana Talbott placed second. Talbott will advance to the District 7 contest at Knox County Career Center on Nov. 6.
Fawcett and Wine applied for the position of farm worker from the animal science pathway, Atkinson pursued an internship in landscaping position from the horticulture pathway and Talbott interviewed for the job of an after school tutor from the agricultural business pathway.
HOWARD, Ohio — East Knox FFA represented Ohio in the National FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in conjunction with the 97th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana Oct. 23-26.
Dylan Springer, Hayden Baker, Aiden Kapper and Jesse Wolford placed 15th out of a field of 41 teams from across the United States with a team rating of silver.
Individually, Springer received a gold rating, placing ninth overall out of 164 contestants. He also received a $900 scholarship for placing in the top 10, was recognized on-stage during the sixth session on Friday evening and was also recognized as third-place individual in the cheese category with a score of 99 out of 100. Baker finished 56th and earned a silver rating, Kapper placed 69th and earned a silver rating and Jesse Wolford was 89th and earned a silver rating.
The team received a plaque for its placing, Springer received a gold medal and Baker, Kapper and Wolford each received a silver medal for their individual national ranking at the awards banquet held on Friday of the National FFA Convention at the Indianapolis Convention Center.
The team advanced to the National contest after placing first in the Ohio FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event at The Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus on March 23. Individually, Springer finished first, Kapper finished second, Wolford placed eighth and Baker placed 15th out of 137 competitors in the state contest.
The National Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event is sponsored by Cargill, Kerry, Culver’s, Hormel Foods and US POULTRY with In-Kind donors Bruens Bros Processing Equipment, Nelson Jameson, Inc., Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. and Purdue University.
This is the fourth time since 2017 that an East Knox FFA Milk Quality & Products team has represented Ohio at the National event. The Chapter’s other National-level competition in MQP came from placing second in the state in 1997, 2022 and 2023 when they represented Ohio at the Eastern States Exposition in Massachusetts.
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WEST SALEM — Northwestern FFA helped clean up the Wayne County Fairgrounds with students from Triway, Smithville and Norwayne. The Northwestern FFA members who participated in the fair recycling event included Jack Morris, Laurie Bauman, Emma Connelly, Addy Connelly, Makenna Connelly, Madilyn Smith, Case Keener, Hank Morris, Addison Moser, Tessa Buzzard, Marissa Smith, MJ Coman, Jesse Hanshaw, Jocelyn Knapp, Clara Saal, Mason Mobley, Olivia Madden, Jaycee Reed, McCullough Porter and Adalynn Gray.
While recycling throughout the week students collected any recyclable materials, including plastics, cans and cardboard. With the help of the FFA members and alumni, the chapters were able to collect 16,049.65 pounds of cardboard and plastic, with 12,279.75 pounds able to be recycled and 3,400 pounds able to be composted.
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ohio — Fayetteville FFA held its annual Cincinnati Center for Autism Agriculture Day on Oct. 11.
During the event, members and officers visited CCA and brought a variety of livestock animals, including rabbits, chickens, ponies, goats and sheep to teach participants about agriculture. They also brought sensory bins and pedal tractors for the students to enjoy.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ohio — Fayetteville FFA conducted its annual Cardboard City from Oct. 12-13.
Every student that participated made a donation of five canned goods that will be given to HOPE Emergency. For this event, students built a house out of cardboard to sleep in for the night. The event also included team-building activities, so students could meet other members and learn more about homelessness awareness.
