ASHLAND, Ohio — On Aug. 26, Ashland FFA members, their families, FFA alumni and supporters gathered at Ashland High School for the chapter’s annual hog roast.
Thanks to generous donations from Jones Livestock, Turk Brothers Meats, Dave Bishop and Marty Shoup, attendees enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich and sides provided by FFA members and their families.
Ashland FFA President Tanner Harpster addressed the attendees and thanked the Ashland FFA Alumni Association for supporting the program. He also outlined the chapter’s plans for the year, including a trip to the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana; participation in many career development events and holding regular chapter meetings. Harpster also introduced Ashland FFA advisors Tod Fox and Emily Harding. This will be Fox’s seventh year advising the Ashland FFA Chapter and Harding’s first year as an advisor.
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MILLERSBURG, Ohio — On Aug. 28, West Holmes FFA Chapter members participated in an Adopt a Highway clean-up before its August meeting. Members walked the sides of state Route 39, one mile on each side of the high school, picking up trash. The chapter does this as a way to give back to its community and to improve the environment. Participants were Maren Drzazga, Megan Hughes, Emma Eberhard, Andi Schuch, Blakes Patterson, Ian Barr, Derek Miller, Garrett Fowler, Jenna Sheldon, Ava Eberhard, Alexa Tate, Torrie Savage, Madison Ringwalt, Gabby Yates, Ben Forrer, Steven Grandstaff and Jenna Brumme.
MILLERSBURG, Ohio — The West Holmes FFA held its annual parent and member year opening meeting on Aug. 29 and its regular meeting on Aug. 30 at the Ogi pond.
The annual parent and member year opening meeting featured cornhole, water games, volleyball, go swimming and go fishing, as well as hot dogs, chips and pop.
The regular meeting of the West Holmes FFA was brought to order by President Becca Schuch on Aug. 30.
During the meeting the club decided to pay for the jacket of the first member of each freshman class who recites the creed; to purchase a $50 gift card for the top salesman of the fall sale; to create apparel ideas for the apparel sale; to have its September meeting at Acres of Fun and pay for $10 and pizza and have the members cover the rest; to pay and participate in all contests this year; to conduct a Fall BBQ sauce and tins of nuts sale from Sept. 1-8, and apparel sale this fall from Sept. 18-25; to conduct various community service projects throughout the year; to pay for tent, food and supplies for the August meeting and give Ogi’s $50 for porta potty rental; to send members to Greenhand Camp; to send juniors, seniors and officers to the fifth grade farm tour on Sept. 26 and pay for supplies; to allow any member that sells $200 of BBQ sauce to get their FFA jacket or Greenhand camp for free or $350 for both; to sponsor farm safety poster contest for the fifth grade farm tour and award first place with a $25 gift card, second with $15 and third with $10; to send sophomores to county and district soil; to send the Ag Issues Team to the Big E contest and the chapter will contribute $1,000 towards the trip.
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INDIANAPOLIS — More than 20 agricultural teachers and college professors from throughout the U.S. recently met in Indianapolis to determine what FFA members and teams will compete for top honors in the 2023 National FFA Agriscience Fair, and members of a couple of Ohio chapters were recognized.
A team representing the Norwayne FFA chapter in Creston, Ohio, has been named a finalist this year in the food products and processing systems category in Divison 4 of the competition. Kya Csapo’s and Morgan Wiles’ project was titled “The Comparison of Bos Taurus Breeds and Longissimus Dorsi Warner Bratzler Shear Force Test.” Their experiment compared the amount of marbling and Longissimus Dorsi (ribeye) tenderness between Angus and Holstein cattle breeds.
Kate Welsheimer, Terra Choi, Josie Henry, Brylie Jackson and Jeffrey Moore of the Global Impact FFA chapter in Springfield, Ohio,
have all been nationally recognized for their FFA Agriscience Fair achievements. Jackson and Moore received a bronze medal in the
categories of food products and processing systems and plant systems, respectively. Welsheimer, Choi and Henry were named national finalists this year in the categories of power systems for Choi and Welsheimer in Divisions 1 and 5, respectively, and Henry in the area of environmental
sciences, Division 1 of the competition.
The National FFA Agriscience Fair is a competition that is part of the annual National FFA Convention & Expo, Nov. 1-4, in Indianapolis. To qualify, FFA members working as individuals or teams in grades seven through 12 are required to conduct a scientific research project pertaining to the agriculture or food science industries and win their state’s FFA agriscience fair.
Individuals or teams compete in one of six categories — animal systems; environmental services/natural resource systems; food products and processing systems; plant systems; power, structural and technical systems or social science — in six divisions based on grade level.
First-place winners in each state have qualified for the national pre-qualifying judging. The judges reviewed entries and selected a maximum of 12 in each category and division to move on to the national competition. For a complete list of results, check https://www.ffa.org/participate/awards/agriscience-fair/.
