End of the Year E-Update


KTA Winter Career Expo
On September 6th our FFA Chapter took group to the Winter Expo hosted by the Kansas Turnpike Authority at Kansas Expo Center in Topeka.  
Students were able to participate in the job fair from 8 to noon.
They were able to visit with potential employers in the area but also see the latest equipment and demonstrations from all kinds of industrial and agricultural equipment in the area.  
Following that the FFA Chapter took students to the Golden Corral in Topeka for lunch.  The final stop was at the Harley Davidson facility and museum.
Students were able to meet with the general manager, a third generation owner, about his experiences and advice.  
All in all it was a great experience for students.
District Greenhand Conference at Silver Lake
Freshman FFA members attended the District Greenhand Conference at Silver Lake on September 19th, 2018.
The conference was hosted by the Northeast District Officer Team.
The district officers began the day with opening ceremonies and remarks.
It was then followed up with a presentation from Kansas State University.
Members then took the FFA information tests.
After testing was concluded students were then divided up and rotated through eight different mini-sessions.
The rotations consisted of the district officers and two state officers, Garrett Craig and Krissy Isle, teaching greenhands about different aspects of FFA.
After the informative rotations, results of the tests were then announced.
Hannah Newell was named the District Champion and was followed by Katina Bartel who came in second place.
Amariah Allen and Dalton Ashcraft were tied for fourth place.
They were followed by Corwin Martin and Carson Adkins who tied for eighth place.
Cody Miller and Henry Katz tied for sixteenth place.


District Nursery at Holton
FFA members were able to attend the District Nursery event on September 26th, 2018.
The A-Team placed first overall, the B-Team placed first and the C-Team placed third.
A-Team member Paige Crouch placed first, Hope Kebert in second, and there was also a new member who placed in his first ever FFA event and that was Killian O’Connor who placed fourth.
In the B-Team division, Grace Utz placed first, Olivia McAsey third, and Carter Watkins placed sixth.



District & State Land Judging at Jackson Heights
The Holton FFA Chapter attended the District Land Judging Competition on September 26th and the state competition on October 4th.
The district event was hosted by Jackson Heights High School. Cailin Parks came in 5th place on A team land evaluation.
On B team, Hannah Ent came in 4th, Sarah Grafton came in 7th place, and Konnor Tannahill came in 9th place.
The team came in at second place. For District Homesite Evaluation, Evan Landis came in 10th place on A team.
On B team, Aaran McAllister came in 4th place, Damien Nelson came in 6th place, and Zeke Kitts came in 8th place.
The team came in second place. The chapter also brought a land evaluation team and a homesite evaluation team to the state level competition.
Kortnee VanDonge came in 9th place.


District Dairy Judging at Sabetha
A small but mighty group attended the Dairy Judging Career Development Event on October 10. They competed at Rokey Road Dairy near Sabetha, KS.
Our lone ranger on A-team, Savannah Phillips, placed 2nd in the Senior Division.
We had a very talented B-team consisting of Miles McCauley, Cody Miller, Konnor Tannahill, and Carter Watkins.
They had a wonderful lunch at the McDonald’s in Seneca and made their way back home. We appreciate their hard work and dedication for attending this competition.


National Convention
National Convention this year was one for the books. There were so many great things to do, and people to see.
While we were in Indianapolis we did several things, such as going to sessions and listening to all of the great keynote speakers and retiring addresses of the 2017-18 National Officers.
We visited the Indy 500 speedway and did Kiss the Bricks tour, where they let you off the bus at the finish line and let us kiss the bricks like the winners do after winning the race.
We also did some shopping in the massive shopping mall, where vendors from all over come to sell their products, walking through the career expo and talking to different colleges, like K-State, Wichita State, Oklahoma State.
There were also several junior colleges as well. We got the chance to talk to big agricultural corporations like Merck Animal health, Tractor Supply Co., Cargill, and Syngenta to name a few, but there was so many corporations we just didn’t get the chance to talk to them.  
Being apart of National Convention is so neat. There is one main street that takes you to and from the session hall and the career expo and all down that street there is restaurants that are welcoming to FFA Member and often have discounts if your in Official Dress.
Our all time favorite restaurant is Harry and Izzy’s. Every year we make a point to eat there and enjoy each other’s company between competing and doing tours.
We learn so much at National Convention and meet so many new people and get to catch up with old friends, but nothing beats getting to make new memories with the people closest to you.


National Convention; Par Law
“And your 2018 State Parliamentary Procedure Champion team is….Holton!” The fire was started, as the chapter Par Law was crowned the winners at the end of May.
Members Joshua Clark, Savannah Phillips, Bridget Kucan, Quinn Kennedy, Alexys Campbell, and Grace Utz raced to get ready as they were to compete at National Convention in the fall.
As National Convention neared the teams nerves grew. As the week of October 23-26 neared, the members hopped in the van early Tuesday morning and headed to Indianapolis, Indiana.
They practiced for hours upon hours until they arrived at their destination. They got some rest and then got ready to take a big test and do a minutes practicum on Wednesday.
Once that event was done for the day, they headed to a session to relax for a while. They headed back to the hotel to try and get some more rest as Demo day was about to approach.
They woke up, got ready, and put a smile on their nervous faces as they head out the door. The team waited and waited for their chance to come to blow the socks of the judges feet.
The time came and they rocked the stage. After that, the team headed into another room to do their final task. The team waited once more to hear the results.
It was very heartbreaking but the team didn’t make it to semi-finals but ended up with a bronze placing. The team was very grateful for their experience and the memories that they gained that long week in October.


Adopt-A-Spot
The first Adopt-A-Spot cleanup for the year was on Sunday November 4th, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. and lasted until around 3:30 p.m. We had 7 hardworking individuals come out to help cleanup our community along highway 75 through town. Seeing new members get involved in community service projects, gaining hours for their AET records is an awesome sight. We plan to do this two more times before the end of this year,  and we hope to have an even greater turnout next time!


Blood Drive
The Holton FFA Fall Blood Drive was hosted on November 8, 2018 in the Holton High School JV Gym.
The drive ran from 11:00 am to 5 pm, and we had 71 individuals attend to try and give blood, although not everyone who attended was able to donate, we still ended up with a total of 68 units of blood.
The Blood Drive was one of the best ones the chapter has had for a while. On behalf of the chapter, we would like to thank everyone that came and donated or tried to donate.
Without your help we would not of had as much of a success as we did. We hope to see you at our next Blood Drive in the Spring!


Northeast District Leadership School at Holton
The Northeast District FFA Leadership School was held at Holton High School on Friday, November 16th.
Holton, Royal Valley, Sabetha, Jackson Heights, Doniphan West, Onaga, Valley Heights, ACCHS, Hiawatha, Mclouth, Silver Lake, Centralia, Rock Creek, Nemaha Central, and Wamego all traveled to compete at the event with both greenhand and chapter participants.
Members competed in leadership information testing, parliamentary procedure information testing, ritual presentations, and parliamentary procedure demonstration.
The Holton FFA Chapter took first in Leadership Information testing as a team with Bridget Kucan placing 1st, Kortnee VanDonge placing 2nd , Cailin Parks placing 5th, Grace Utz placing 4th , Chris Roush placing 7th , and Savannah Phillips placing 9th.
The officers also took in Rituals with Chris Roush receiving Master Sentinel. The chapter’s parlaw team placed 1st in information testing, second in the demonstration, and second overall with individuals Hope Kebert in 1st, Paige Crouch 2nd, and Kortnee VanDonge in 4th.
Greenhand officers placed 1st in leadership information, 6th in rituals, and the parlaw team placed 6th overall.
In the end, after all the points were added together, Holton took 2nd place as a chapter.


OSHA Certifications
This year in the Ag Welding/Fabrication and Ag Structures CTE Classes, we had 15 students earn their OSHA 10 Hour Safety Cards.
This is a lifetime, industry recognized certification that will be honored in the workplace.


We worked through CareerSafe Online to complete the training and cooperated with Washburn Tech and Labette County Community College to offer the opportunity through SB 155 (Excel CTE) funds.
Most of these students also earned 1 hour of college credit for completing these classes.


OSHA 10 Hour - General Industry BLUE Safety Card (6 Students)
- David Curtis
- Taygen Fletcher
- Jackson Gilliland
- Wyatte Montgomery
- Wyatt Nightingale
- Mary Pritchett


OSHA 10 Hour - Construction Industry YELLOW Safety Card (9 Students)
- Aidan Androes
- Scott Hards
- Trevor Hurteau
- Jaden Marsh
- Chris McGee
- Damien Nelson
- Kolby Roush
- Damon Ruckman
- Cody Ryan


Christmas Party
On Saturday, December 8th, the FFA Christmas Party was held.
We had a White Elephant Gift Exchange, ate some snacks, and watched the classic Christmas film The Christmas Story.
A great time was had by all as we bonded and enjoyed just an all around FUN night!


Mr. Koehlmos
Starting in January, a new addition was added to the Holton Ag Ed Department.  
Mr. Eric Koehlmoos is from Kansas State University and completing his student teaching assignment here at HHS.  
He has started teaching Ag Mechanics and AFNR classes and co-teaching Ag Structures, Ag Welding and Ag Fabrication classes too.
Mr. Koehlmoos is from Northwest Iowa.  Mr. Koehlmoos background is in a small family swine and crops operation.  
He was an active FFA member in high school, being involved in Meats, Ag Sales, along with other CDEs.  
While in college, Mr. Koehlmoos completed his American Degree and this past fall he was selected as the nation’s best as a FFA Star in Agriscience!  
Mr. Koehlmoos enjoys sports, especially hockey, but will be shadowing Mr. Bartel and Mr. Larison as they coach middle school basketball.
Mr. Koehlmoos will assist Mr. Larison and Mr. Bartel in preparing different CDE teams this spring.
Please welcome Mr. Koehlmoos to our community.  Along with that, “Thank You” Mr. Koehlmoos for your time and dedication to Agriculture and FFA.

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