2016 June-July Edition

Kansas Range Youth Camp

•Josh Clark and Jayger Carson attended the 55th Annual Kansas Range Youth Camp on July 12-15.  The event is held at Camp Mennoscah in Murdock, Kansas and is sponsored by the Kansas Chapter of the Society for Range Management. The overall goal of the camp is to provide young people training in the art and science of range management and assist them in applying this information to their local areas through improved grassland management. We want to thank the Jackson County Conservation District for sponsoring scholarships for Josh and Jayger to attend.

Our new range experts in the Holton FFA!

Kansas Corn Growers - Shed Tour

•FFA members Danni Klahr, Brett Bontrager, and Alex Clark volunteered on the evening of July 14 to help with the Kansas Corn Growers event held at the NE Kansas Heritage Complex. The event shared updates and educational information to local corn producers. Thanks to the Kansas Corn Commission for the invitation to be involved.

Officers help hand out literature during the presentation from the executive director.

Kansas FFA State Conference for Chapter Leaders

Alex assists with Flag Raising at Rock Springs.

•FFA President Alex Clark recently attended the State Conference for Chapter Leaders (SCCL) at Rock Springs Ranch. The conference is conducted by the 2016-17 Kansas FFA Officers. While there, she got to experience a three day conference that would give her advice and techniques on how to be a better leader and form a more cohesive team. She came back with the knowledge necessary to run an efficient chapter with the help of her other officers. The conference included break out sessions where she was educated over her role as an officer, team debriefs where she and Mr. Larison worked on organizing AET and discussing possibilities for the chapter and also activities that focused on being a team and working together. Alex plans to use what she learned at SCCL to help make the chapter successful in the upcoming year.

Ready for a year of INFLUENCE, CONTINUITY, and MAKING THINGS HAPPEN!

Four attend Washington Leadership Conference

Hello Senator Moran.

•Alex Clark, Brett Bontrager, Josh Clark and Tel Wittmer got the opportunity to attend WLC in Washington DC. WLC is a leadership conference that focuses on the "Living to Serve" aspect of the motto. They toured the DC area and facilitators used the sights to help educate them on how to make a difference. Each member developed a "living to serve" plan while at the conference that they can implement to help make their community a better place. Each of them came back talking about the different aspects that they felt were impactful. The conference had a poverty dinner which showed them how many people are considered well off versus how many are questioning where their next meal comes from and even those that question if they will ever eat again. On another night, members watched as bouncy balls were thrown across the ballroom floor to symbolize the "needs" of the world. Members attending the conference were asked to pick them up using certain parameters which resulting in members realizing that they needs will forever be there because the buckets were dumped out again and again as more needs came about. Members returned from the conference with a sense of wanting to make a bigger difference.

Mr. Bartel attends DELTA Conference

In June, Mr. Bartel had the opportunity to attend the Tri-State DELTA Conference at Beliot with Career and Technical Education Teachers from across the state. The conference was facilitated by Mark Reardon from the Quantum Learning Network.  The conference focused on teachers "Risking Boldly" to further develop their teaching skills.

Stand and Deliver Time for Mr. Bartel during DELTA. He presented a lesson to then be coached by his peers.

Day 1 of DELTA, the Risky Business gorup plans their theme.

Envirothon Team Continues to Prepare

Envirothon Team met with State Forester David Bruton in Valley Falls.

•This year, Alex Clark, Tel Wittmer, Josh Clark, Walker Sheldon and Alex Myers are preparing and practicing throughout the summer with Mr. Bartel for the North American Envirothon this year in Peterborough Canada.  Envirothon is an international agriculturally based competition where teams compete in aquatic life, soil, forestry, invasive species and wildlife; the team then presents a presentation over invasive species.  "I'm really excited to go to the Envirothon and meet other people just as excited as I am." Said Alex Clark, Senior.  The team advanced to the state competition after placing second at the regional envirothon in April.  The team then placed first overall at the Kansas Envirothon, guaranteeing them a spot in Canada.

The team traveled to Kansas State University to learn how to use some new data collection probes they will see at Nationals.  They also studied aquatic invertebrates from a specialist on campus.  

#SAEselfie Campaign Kicks Off

Walker the BEE KEEPER! Sample #SAEselfie

•#SAEselfie is a new project the Holton FFA is running this year.  The overall purpose is to highlight the diversity of SAE experiences available to our members. We have had local submissions, state submissions, as well as national submissions. Members are encouraged to post selfies highlighting their SAEs but also are asked to encourage friends in the state and out to submit theirs and tag the Holton FFA in the post. This will allow for us to locate the post and share, retweet, and post from our sites. #SAEselfie Spotlights will be posted on a monthly basis with three winners per month in three categories. The students selected for SAE spotlights will be contacted for some additional information to be included in the SAE Spotlight. The spotlights will be chosen from the previous months submissions.

ALUMNI MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

• The Holton FFA Alumni has kicked off the membership drive for 2016-17.  Letters have been included in the enrollment packets of all Agricultural Education students and will be mailed out to past members. There are many ways to support the young people of the Holton FFA, if you would like to join the Holton FFA Alumni or would like more information contact Melisa Beauchamp, FFA Alumni Treasurer.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• July 19 Outdoor Movie Night- 8:30 at the High School
• Members bring a snack item and lawn chair.  Hot Dogs and Smore's will be provided.  
• July 20-21 FFA Officer Retreat to Manhattan
• July 23-29 North American Envirothon in Canada - Good Luck to our Team
• August 9 Most Active Members "Points Trip" to Kansas City
• August 18 First Day of School for Freshmen and New Students
• August 19 First Day of School for Everyone
• August 20 NE District Softball Game at Rafters Park
• August 25 Ag Ed Department Open House and Parent Night 6:30 PM

For the most up to date news and updates from our be sure to follow our chapter on social media: @holtonFFA.

The Holton FFA e-Update will be published each month to help inform our members, parents, and key stakeholders about the adventures in Agricultural Education at Holton High School.