Red Gold award winnings donated to five FFA chapters

LA PORTE, Ind. — Harold and Tom Parker of Parker Farms in La Porte were recognized as the 2017 Red Gold Stewardship and Conservation Award recipients. The award is presented each year to one of Red Gold’s growers who exemplify exceptional stewardship and conservation of their land and natural resources on their entire farming operation.

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) partners with Red Gold to receive applications and score each farm on their efforts to enhance sustainability and good farming practices. On-farm visits are then made to the finalists by the ISDA staff and the winners are determined.

Chris McDonnall of McDonnall Farms in Delta, Ohio, received the second-place award of a $500 scholarship given in their honor.

The Parkers received a $1,000 scholarship award and are naming five local FFA Soil Judging teams to receive $200 each – South Central FFA, Westville FFA, New Prairie FFA, La Porte FFA and John Glenn FFA – as their designated recipients, to promote knowledge and good practices in taking care of our most important natural resources, land and water.

Amanda-Clearcreek FFA hosts annual Leadership Night

AMANDA, Ohio — On Nov. 15, 2017, the Amanda-Clearcreek FFA Chapter hosted its annual State FFA Officer Leadership Night. During this event, 288 students from 13 FFA chapters came to Amanda-Clearcreek High School to better their leadership skills and take the new things they learn back to their home chapters.

This time, five state FFA officers attended, including President Ryan Mathews, Treasurer Emily Mullen and vice presidents at-large Marley Kerr, Phillip Eberly and Emma Sterwerf.

To start the event off, the state officers had the members in one large group where they explained what their night would entail. They then split them up into two groups, each of which had multiple state officers. Within the groups, members participated in multiple leadership activities and learned how to better themselves as FFA members.

Students learned about great icons like John Glenn, looked at how to make their dreams more than just dreams and how to lay the groundwork for their future. They also played a game that requires members to fill up a cup with feathers, beads and string – members learn that we all have a bucket to fill in life, and how determined we are will determine if our bucket will get filled or not.

After the group activities, everyone returned to the cafeteria, where state officers talked about what was learned and how the night went. Members were then excused to enjoy a great meal, along with talking to friends from other FFA chapters. This event gives FFAers a one-of-a-kind experience to meet with other students from across the state.

Amanda-Clearcreek wins Ohio FFA communications contest

AMANDA, Ohio — On Feb. 10, the Amanda-Clearcreek FFA Agricultural Communications Team placed first in the state of Ohio. This is one of the FFA’s most challenging Career Development Events, involving an online journalism test, an editing exercise, a 15-page media plan, a 15-minute group presentation and individual writing practicums.

The team consisted of Emma Dearth, Paige Hinton, Aaron Sharp and Noah Smith.  Smith earned a perfect score on his writing practicum area, while Dearth and Hinton also scored extremely high in the state with their respective writing practicum areas.

This is the 17th time in the last 18 years this chapter’s team has placed in the top five in the state of Ohio, winning the state nine of these years in the past. Also, this will be the second year in a row that these four FFA members will be representing their chapter and Ohio at the national level, as they were on the state winning Agricultural Issues Forum team last year.