March - April 2014 FFA e-Update

Another Successful Blood Drive

On March 27th our annual blood drive was held in the Holton High School Ag room. This year we had 46 units of blood collected, narrowly missing our goal of 50. It was an amazing turnout and with the help of the National Honor Society it ran very smoothly. We had 13 first time donors helping us push past the 40 units of blood collected. It was a great activity in which helped the Community receive blood which is at an all time low. We as the Holton FFA Chapter would like to thank everyone who helped and donated during this blood crisis.

Fort Scott Teams Compete Well

On March 28th, 14 Holton FFA members were at the High School at 4:00 A.M. to compete at Fort Scott. Many of them barely up and moving fell right back to sleep once they got into the 2 vans. After a couple of hours of driving though they all got up in order to practice for there upcoming CDE's and Speeches. Teams competing included Meats Judging, Poultry, Floriculture, Farm Management, Nursery and Landscape. We also had a few speakers who included Dean Klahr, Tristan Parks, Samantha Beauchamp, Rilee VanDonge, and Brett Bontrager. All teams did very well with Nursery and Landscaping taking 1st, Floriculture taking 3rd, Poultry placing 8th, Meats earning 14th, Farm Management #1 taking 10th, and Farm Management #2 taking 13th. Overall it was a fantastic day for all teams to practice for the upcoming State CDE's. 

Lots of CDE's Happening in April/May.

Spring is in the air, with the beautiful weather, the birds chirping, and the Livestock and Spring CDE's starting up again. April 2nd the Livestock event will be held in Seneca for all Holton FFA members that are willing to attend. Another big CDE event that will be held, is Spring CDE day at Highland Community College. This event will host all Floriculture, Vet Science, Ag Sales, Food Science, Ag Communication, and Ag Business competitors. These CDE days being held will help all of the competitors throughout the state prepare for State CDE's which are held May 4th through 6th. In order for our Holton members to be the best they can be they must practice for those. Best of luck to all of the competitors. 

YOU ARE INVITED, 2014 Holton FFA Banquet

On Sunday, April 27th our Annual Chapter Banquet is being held at the Holton High school again. We would like to invite everyone to attend this special recognition of all FFA members, parents and Alumni. It has been a great year for the Chapter and we are excited to celebrate with family and friends. This year we are doing something different for Chapter Banquet, we are hosting it on Sunday afternoon rather then our regular Saturday Night. It will start approximately 12:30 and end around 3:00 P.M.  We strongly recommend that you bring a dish for are annual Potluck meal. We are excited to have it and we hope to see everyone there. 

National Chapter Award

This time of the year again we finish up our National Chapter Award. The National Chapter Award ranks the Holton FFA Chapter and there activities against other chapters across the state. These activities that we host are graded on participation, success, and the plan that we made to achieve the goals for each of these criteria. Last year we got gold in all 3 of the criteria which are Student, Community, and Chapter development. This year we hope to get gold in all three again and send it to Nationals to be judged. We successfully completed our application and submitted it on March 27th.  Good luck Holton FFA.

NEO A & M Horse Judging Contest

The North East Oklahoma A & M Horse Judging contest was Tuesday, April 1st. We had 4 competitors that traveled to Miami, Oklahoma. The FFA members were Dean Klahr, Samantha Beauchamp, Tristan Parks, and Victoria Kimbrough. The team did very well finishing 8th out of 42 teams and 3rd overall in reasons. The High individual was Dean Klahr placing 3rd at the competition. All other team members did very well to help there team place in the top 10. This competition was to prepare them for state in order to take 1st in there competition of horse judging.

State Proficiency Results

The Proficiencies that went to state did very well again this year. Leading the way was Nils Bergsten taking first in his category of Forest Management Entrepreneurship. Darien Klahr took 2nd at state in Fiber and/or Oil Crop Production, Rilee VanDonge took 2nd in the state for Veterinary Science Placement, Amber took 2nd in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, and Ryan Lierz placed 2nd in his field of Turf Grass Management. All proficiencies did very well at state, these proficiencies helped strengthen there SAE's and proved that hard work will pay of in the end. 

Ag Mechanics and Poultry Results

On Wednesday, March 5th, the Ag Mechanics and Poultry competition was held in Wamego. We had approximately 20 members compete that day in both events. The Poultry team swept the top 3 with Victoria Kimbrough taking first, Nils Bergsten placing 2nd, and Karl wilhelm finishing 3rd. The team placing first won the district competition in Poultry. The Ag Mechanics team did very well also with Billy Hill being the High individual. These events leading up to the State CDE's are preparing them to perform better under pressure and at a greater competition. 

Clark Attends Stand and Deliver

Alex Clark attended the 2014 Kansas FFA Stand and Deliver Conference held in conjunction with State Leader Lab in Junction City on March 21st and 22nd.  During the event, Alex gained tips and skills to improve her speaking skills and overall presentation abilities.  The facilitator's of the conference were from YourNextSpeaker.com from Oklahoma.

Mr. Bartel helps with State Proficiency Selection

Thanks for Mr. Bartel for serving on the State Proficiency Award selection committee in Junction City in March.  A committee of teachers and alumni from across the state served on the judging panels.

Mr. Larison participates in Agricience Training.

On March 22 and 23rd, Mr. Larison joined 6 other teachers from across the state in Junction City to receive training on Inquiry Based Learning in the classroom.  The workshop was hosted by KSDE and they brought in a science teacher from Ohio to lead the workshops.  These teachers will present four workshops across the state this summer for KSDE specifically geared to high school science and agriculture teachers.

Pancake Feed Summary

The FFA pancake feed was a nice turn out. We hade 25 members show up to help out or eat. Over all we hade 189 people attend. We served eggs, sausage, pancakes, coffee, orange juice, milk, and water. We made $550 from the feed its self and a $500 check from the Optimus Club. We hade 14 to-go’s and the rest stayed to eat. We hade donation of eggs from the Wilhelm family and other various items like syrup, butter, juices, milk, and pancake mix. Thank you to all the members who helped and the community for showing up.

Ag Ed Advisory Committee Meets

On Saturday March 8th, the advisory group for the Ag program met following pancake feed.  For 2014-15 the group includes Sarah Bowser, Roberta Spencer, Harry Coker, and Jim Dodson.  A special thanks to this group for their leadership and input for the Ag Ed Program.

Special thanks to the Optimist

The Holton FFA Chapter would like to thank the Optimist Club for there generous donation at our annual pancake feed. It was very charitable and we appreciate the donation very much. The donation will go towards helping pay for State CDE teams, potential national teams, and other various activities throughout the year that the chapter will take part in.

Upcoming Events

April 16th- Area Envirothon 

April 17th- POA Meeting

April 21st - District FFA Banquet at Marysville

April 27th- FFA Banquet, Sunday Afternoon

April 28th- FFA Meeting

April 30th- State Envirothon 

May 4th through 6th- State CDE's