Friday, October 24, 2014

October Happenings

After freshmen students attended P2C, see previous posts, the Ag classes, plus a few FFA members, attended district Land Judging in Deshler, Nebraska.  Students spent 1.5 hours judging the land in a wheat field with a cover crop of turnips.  Though our students didn't qualify for state (which by the way was this past Wednesday in McCook) they did a great job.  Austin Stuhr was 4 places away from qualifying for state as an individual.  He received a purple ribbon.  Addie Swartzendruber received a blue ribbon.  Matthew Buller and JJ Johnson received a red ribbon.  Trevor Friesen, Vanessa Hiebner, Nate Rogers, Kristine Goertzen, Bailey Peters, Devon Stamp, Roy Mason, and Destiny Bloxton received a white ribbon.  There were over 250 area students that participated in this contest, so I was fairly pleased with the results.





Students also found out who won the FFA jacket scholarship.  They had to write a few essays about what FFA means to them and what they hope to do in the FFA.  I also had to write a reference letter for them.  The "scholarship applications" then go on to state where they determine who gets free jackets.  This year there was an overwhelming demand for jackets, I can't remember the exact number but I want to say it was around 600 requests.  The Nebraska FFA Foundation is excited to see the numbers growing for requests and is happy to help out.  We were fortunate enough to have four members receive jackets: Kyle Ott, Cheyenne Hiebner, Tierney Casper, and Krynn Arbuck.

This year the chapter has also begun a member of the month and an officer of the month.  So far we have named the September member and officer of the month.  Officers vote on the members to be members of the month, and the point system is used to decide the officers.  The member was Devon Stamp and the officer was Addie Swartzendruber.


Next week we will be leaving for National Convention.  There will be more coming to the blog on our trip.  Members attending are: Lydia Quiring, Trevor Friesen, Shelby Hurlbut, Addie Swartzendruber, Bailey Ulmer, Krynn Arbuck, and Devon Stamp.

Advanced Ag 1 students are working on landscaping, and learning about the principles of design.  Welding students are still working on OA.  They will be moving to ARC and MIG welding in two weeks.  Ag Science students are learning the creed and attempting to create timelines on the history of the FFA.  Advanced Ag 2 kids are working on food science information and how STEC (E. Coli) gets into the Food stream and how bacteria grow.  They did a lab that dealt with exponential growth and were able to test out a GLOW-Germ kit.

Well, it's time to get back to teaching.  Until the next time!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

It's been almost a month

Wow, it has been a month since I last posted.  Things have been busy.  Due to the weather we were not able to go to Husker Harvest Days, however we still donated our food to the Heartland United Way.  Our magazines sales finished up and we were in charge of two concession stands during home football games.  During the week of September 21-27, we worked on Farm Safety Week.  Lydia Quiring, Trevor Friesen, and Matthew Buller put together the activities for the 4th-6th grades this year.  Trevor talked about tractor safety and why it's important to stay away from the PTO.  Matthew talked about ATV safety and why it's important to wear a helmet.  Lydia talked about being safe while riding horses.  All students in grades 4-6 also received a small airhead and smartie with a note attached that said "Don't be an airhead on the farm, be smart."  Due to scheduling the Matthew, Trevor, and Lydia did their presentations on two different days.


 Trevor discussed with students where to stand when around a tractor so that the operator can see you.  He also showed students a video of what happens when you get stuck in a PTO.

 Matthew discussed what an ATV is, the importance of wearing a helmet, and some ways of properly riding on an ATV.




 Lydia had an activity that demonstrated the importance of wearing helmets while riding horses.  Her "brains" were made out of jello and macaroni.  One "brain" was in a tupperware to signify a helmet.  The other "brain" was dropped without any protection.

On September 24, Cornerstone Bank held it's annual "Careers in Ag" Day at the Auditorium in Lincoln.  Students that participated were able to visit with area professionals about their career experiences and how to obtain a job there.  Participants are also eligible for the Cornerstone Scholarship that is to be awarded to seniors attending a Nebraska College.


On October 1, freshmen students attended a conference in Grand Island called P2C, or Pathways to Careers.  This was a way of giving students a hands-on approach to what careers paths are available in the agriculture industry.  Overall, I think students had a great time, and were asking if they could go back next year.  Though, some of them were wanting to see a few more hands-on demonstrations.

 Students in the Food Science Pathway created pretzels and "sausages"
 Students in the Animal Science Pathway were taught about animal cruelty and about training dogs.
Students in the Plant Systems Pathway were taught about agronomy and the importance of raising yield amounts.

Tomorrow FFA members will host a Harvest Meal at Progressive Ag in Bradshaw.  If you have a few minutes stop by and get lunch anytime between 11 and 1.

Next week students will be participating in District Land Judging in Thayer County Nebraska.

Until the opportunity arrises for me to write again, watch out and be safe while driving as Harvest begins.