September E Update - Back to School Edition


Welcome Back! On behalf of of the 2018-19 Holton FFA Officer team we are excited to have everyone back for another exciting year. It has been a busy summer and start to the school year. If you are new to our e-Update, it is an electronic newsletter we will be publishing each month to better inform our school, community, parents, and Ag Ed family about what is going on in the FFA Chapter at Ag Ed Program. Please share with others you think may be interested and consider subscribing to this e-Update blog for more updates.
                                                                       -Kortnee, Cailin, Alexys, Bridget, Grace, and Chris

Holton FFA Google Calendar

To stay up to date and current on FFA events, we suggest subscribing to our Holton FFA Chapter Google Calendar. It will be the most up to date and current calendar. You can add it to your computer or mobile device by clicking the link below.

Ag Welding and Ag Structures students complete OSHA 10 Hour Certification

  • This year, we are trying something new in the safety units for our Ag Welding and Ag Structures classes. Each student is earning their 10 Hour OSHA cards for either General Industry (Agriculture) or Construction. Along the way, many of them are earning 1 hour of free college credit through Washburn Tech or Labette Community College.
  • These are lifetime cards that can help them open doors of opportunity for future employment.
  • Congrats to the following students for receiving their OSHA 10 Certifications and starting on their shop skills this week:
    • OSHA 10 Hour Blue Card - General Industry Agriculture
      • Jack Gilliland, Mary Pritchett, Taygen Fletcher, Wyatt Nightingale
    • OSHA 10 Hour Yellow Card - Construction
      • Kolby Roush, Jaden Marsh, Scott Hards, Damon Ruckman, Chris McGee, Cody Ryan, David Curtis (David earned his through Washburn Tech last fall and is currently finish up his blue card).
    • 7 more students are close to finishing up earning their cards too and should be done this next week.


Ag Ed Program receives $2000 Farm Credit Grant


  • This fall, the Ag Ed program received a $2000 Grant from Frontier Farm Credit to purchase Hydroponic grow towers to use in our Horticulture classes. The self contained units should be arriving soon and Horticulture 2 students will be growing herbs and other edible crops in them this fall. Also, students will be designing an aquaponics system from these resources to learn about raising fish and plants together.

THANK YOU FRONTIER FARM CREDIT for the Student Handbooks!

  • A huge thanks to Frontier Farm Credit for purchasing FFA Student handbooks for every freshmen in Agriculture classes this fall. These handbooks are a great addition to our FFA Opportunities Unit and are a resource they get to keep along with their FFA manuals to continue to learn about FFA opportunities throughout high school. 

Larison attends Ag Teacher Summer Conference

  • In early August, Mr. Larison attended the Ag Teacher's Summer Conference held in Manhattan, Kansas and hosted by the Kansas Association of Agriculture Educators (KAAE). While at the inservice, he participated in business meetings, networked with other Ag Teachers from around the state, and attended training on topics such as "Better utilizing AET in your classroom", "Wildlife Education Opportunities from Kansas State", and other workshops.
SIGNING DAY!!! - Ag Ed Open House and Parent Night:
  • Every year, the Holton FFA Chapter holds their Ag Ed Open House at the beginning of the year for the students and their parents. The event has gone from being open to our freshman, to the whole chapter, and this year, an even bigger twist was added to the mix. At the 2018 Ag Ed Open House, the Chapter held their first ever Signing Day. All of us have heard about the football players signing to play at Baker, or the basketball players committing to play at Washburn, but who would have thought about committing to an Agriculture Education class. Each member that attended was given the option to sign the “Players Creed”, written and revised by our officers and advisors. If members and their parents chose to sign, they sat at our signing table with their parents and/or officers, and received the new Holton FFA t-shirt, which reads “Work Harder Than You Think You Did Yesterday.” Over 30 members chose to sign the players creed, kicking off a great start to our 2018-2019 year.


August Meeting- First Chapter Meeting of the Year

Thursday, August 23, The first meeting with the 2018-19 officers was one for the books!  We started off our meeting inviting our members in and letting them get settled into their seats. We then proceeded to start our first meeting of the year with opening ceremonies to make an official opening. We then moved into our new and upcoming business. New business that we talked about  was our September Fun Night, Greenhand Conference and Land Judging. Old business followed where we touched up on State Convention: Parlaw received 1st, and we were the third place triple crown chapter. Cailin Parks and Kortnee VanDonge touched on the CDE’s they participated in at state convention. As we neared the end of the meeting both Mr. Larison and Mr. Bartel shared their wise thoughts and shared some stories. After listening to their wise words, we all jumped in line to go and get a hot dog lunch that the officer team put on after the meeting! As we ate and mingled we got to know our members and had some great stories and even greater memories. In addition to a great meeting over all we exceeded the record of total attendees with a total of 82 members present.
The ag room was full with 82 members
present for the August meeting.

Food was a popular draw for the August meeting.












Freshman Orientation:
  • Thursday, August 16th, was the first day for all freshmen and new students. The whole freshman body, STUCO, FFA, and FCCLA, all played ultimate rock paper scissors, as an icebreaker. The clubs then began introducing themselves. The officers present for the Holton FFA chapter include: Kortnee VanDonge- President, Cailin Parks- Vice President, Alexys Campbell- Secretary, Grace Utz- Reporter, and Chris Roush- Sentinel. Each Officer introduced themselves and stated what their favorite activity/part of FFA was. During the lunch period the officers had a table set up for some general FFA trivia with some cool prizes to win. The officer team later stayed and helped Advisor and Ag teacher Mr. Jason Larison with his classes. They passed out flyers for a few of their upcoming events, they then helped all the students set up their Agriculture Experience Tracker (AET) accounts. There are many new faces in the FFA chapter and the 2018-19 year is going to be a great one for the Holton FFA chapter!
Banner Bash:
  • On August 18h the Holton FFA Chapter alongside Jackson Heights hosted a NED gathering at Banner Creek. They played sand volleyball, went swimming, and ate some hot dogs and brats. The brats were donated by Banner Creek. It was a fun back to school event to kickoff another year that will be full of fun and memorable activities. We had an attendance of over 30 members. This was a great way to interact with other members in different chapters before the year hits full swing and we start studying for all our CDE’s!
Vandonge Attends District Officer Conference at Rock Springs:
  • Kortnee VanDonge, Northeast District Secretary and Holton Chapter President, attended the Kansas District Officer Conference on August 11th and 12th. She attended the conference with the 41 other district officers from around Kansas and was hosted by that state officers. The theme for DOC was “Fantastic Members and How to Lead Them.” The conference kicked off with a Kansas FFA Executive Committee Meeting. At the meeting Kortnee was chosen to serve as the Northeast District representative for the LDE review board. The executive committee accepted the delegate's decision from state convention to raise chapter dues for non-affiliated chapters by three dollars per student. For rest of the conference, district officers learned how to connect with their districts, lead workshops, and work together.
The district officers worked hard at DOC planning for the year.

SCCL:


  • This past July the new officer team and advisors, Kortnee VanDonge, Cailin Parks, Alexys Campbell, Bridget Kucan, Grace Utz, Chris Roush, Mr. Larison, and Mr. Bartel , headed to Rock Springs to obtain some knowledge of how to have a successful year for the chapter. The theme was Aglantis and the officers spent the three days out at sea learning some tips and tricks to bring back to the chapter. The officers were split up into groups with the State Officers and sat through several different sessions and workshops. They also helped pack meals, participate in a scavenger hunt, bust some moves on the dance floor, and watched movies. The officer team made some new friendships, gained more knowledge, and ready to take on the challenges for this upcoming year.


Ag Teachers Attend Wiring Training:
  • This past June, Mr. Alex Bartel an Agriculture Education teacher at Holton High School, received training in residential electrical wiring at Flint Hills Technical Center in Emporia.  His three-day training consisted of proper safety and tool usage, identifying common errors in wiring, learning about practical wiring theory and extensive time wiring in the laboratory.  This training was paid by a grant from the Kansas Department of Education. “It was a great training opportunity that will positively impact my students’ ability to have current industry training in residential electrical wiring”, says Mr. Bartel.  “I cannot wait to share what I have learned with my students.”
Mr Bartel works on his finished wiring project for the inservice.

Mr Larison Attends Regional "SAE for All Conference"at Rock Springs


At the end of June, Mr. Larison attended the SAE for All Tri State Conference held at Rock Springs 4H Center. In attendance were teachers from Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska along with two teachers from Nevada. The conference focused on learning about the new foundational SAE guides and initiative from The Council for Agriculture Education. It was a great 3 days learning how to better incorporate work based learning and career exploration into the classroom.
Teachers gathered at Rock Springs to learn about new SAE initiatives for Ag Ed.  #SAEforALL

UPCOMING EVENTS:


  • 9.13 - September FFA Meeting during CRT
  • 9.19 - NE District Greenhand Leadership Conference at Silver Lake High School
  • 9.26 - NE District Land, Homesite, and Nursery/Landscape Career Development Events at Holton
  • 9.29 - NE District FFA Dance at Jackson Heights
  • 10.4 - State FFA Land Judging in Jackson County
  • Early October - FFA Fruit, Meat, and BBQ Seasoning Sales begin 

Comments

  1. Thanks for the newsletter. Great idea to keep the parents and community informed. Jill Crouch

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your input! We will keep during this

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