Ohio FFA vice president visits Miami East-MVCTC Chapter

CASSTOWN, Ohio — Recently, Ohio FFA State Vice President At-Large Milan Pozderac came to visit the members of the Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter. He spent the day in the two Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources classes sharing about how to thrive in the FFA organization, by finding ways to ways to follow their passion regardless of the risk of failure.

Pozderac is a graduate of Fredericktown High School. He is a freshman at The Ohio State University majoring in agricultural education. His duties require him to travel throughout the state conducting chapter visits, presenting speeches on behalf of Ohio’s FFA members and facilitating conferences and conventions.

The FFA members at Miami East greatly appreciated that he could take time out of his busy schedule to come and visit with them at Miami East High School.

MILAN POZDERAC HELPS Agricultural, Food and Natural Resources students learn about the importance of taking risks in life while playing a game of “Let’s Make A Deal.”

Purdue senior wins national wool contest in San Antonio

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Purdue University senior Claire Lee of Indianapolis was awarded first place in the Senior Category at the National Make It With Wool Contest in San Antonio, Texas. She made a floral wool dress and blue wool lined coat ensemble.

The national contest was held at the American Sheep Industry annual meeting. Claire will serve as the Senior Ambassador at next year’s competition in New Orleans. The national competition showcases and promotes the beauty and versatility of wool fabrics, yarns and fibers and encourages personal creativity in sewing, knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving and other needlework arts.

All contestants must select, construct and model their own garment(s) made from more than 60 percent wool content. Contestants were judged on overall appearance of the outfit, sewing construction of all three garments and overall fit.

Zionsville Community High School senior Molly Grotjan, 17, was awarded fifth place in the Junior category with her navy blue lined skirt, lined color-blocked cream and navy top, and navy, gray and cream-colored cape with button closure.

Anita Hardwick of Crawfordsville was awarded fifth place in the Adult category with her blue and ivory wool blazer, top and skirt outfit.

The national contest is sponsored by the American Wool Council, the American Sheep Industry and American Sheep Industry Women. The state contest is sponsored by the Indiana Sheep Assoc.

Madison County master gardeners 2018 scholarship winners

ANDERSON, Ind. — This year the Madison County Master Gardeners Assoc. (MCMGA) is awarding $1,000 senior scholarships to Alexandria High School senior Delaney Ward and Frankton High School senior Austin Conrad. MCMGA is also awarding a $500 college renewal scholarship to Jessica Mercer.

Delaney is the daughter of Roger and Jennifer Ward of Alexandria. She plans to attend the Honors College at Ball State University, where she will major in natural resources and environmental management.

Her extracurricular activities include Spell Bowl, Super Bowl, Spanish Club, Recycling Club, National Honor Society and tennis and track. Delaney is also involved in 4-H, the Llama Reserve and Anderson Center for the Arts.

Austin is the son of Dallas and Cassie Conrad of Alexandria. He plans to attend Purdue University, where he will major in agricultural systems management. His school activities include Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FFA, National Honor Society, Academic Team, football and track.

He is also involved in the Bethany Christian Church youth group, Bethany Christian Church Technology Team and is a 10-year member of 4-H.

Jessica is the daughter of Phil and Sue Mercer of Anderson. She is a student at Purdue, majoring in sustainable food and farm systems. She is a member of the Purdue Student Farm Organization, Higher Ground Dance Company and Reformed University Fellowship.

Since 2000, MCMGA has awarded 29 $1,000 scholarships and 15 $500 scholarships. The program is funded through the annual Spring Garden Bazaar and Plant Sale, which will be held this year on May 12, at 9 a.m. at the 4-H building in Alexandria.

Million-meal milestone ensures Illinois families have food to eat

URBANA, Ill. — Across the state, one event at a time, Illinois 4-H members and volunteers are dedicating energy, time and money to creating more food-secure communities where they live. On April 4, Illinois 4-H passed a major milestone, providing more than 1 million meals to families as part of the 4-H Feeding & Growing Our Communities initiative.

The efforts began humbly in November 2013. 4-H members evaluated the hunger issues in their local communities and developed strategies to meet the challenges. One of those strategies has been sponsorship of meal-packaging events. Illinois 4-H works with Illini Fighting Hunger, a U of I student group operated out of Wesley Foundation in Urbana.

The ingredients cost about 14 cents per meal, and 4-H clubs hosting a meal-packaging event must raise funds to cover the cost of the meals they package. Up to $750 is provided to groups by the Illinois 4-H Foundation.

On April 4, the efforts of volunteers from Cass, Morgan, Scott, Greene, and Calhoun counties added to the 50 previous meal-packaging events to push the group over the 1 million mark. Local 4-H member Anne Becker coordinated the effort; this was the second event she has coordinated with assistance from the Morgan County 4-H Federation.

They raised more than $1,500 to purchase the ingredients and received an additional $1,500 in grants from the Illinois 4-H Foundation and Evelyn Brandt Thomas.

In addition to packaging meals, 4-H clubs sponsor a variety of hunger activities. More than 22,000 pounds of produce with a value of $39,000 has been grown and donated to food pantries from 60 4-H gardens. Youth in Hamilton County 4-H had a bumper crop, donating more than 2,500 pounds of produce to local food pantries during the 2017 growing season.

Washington County 4-H teens have addressed food deserts by creating mobile food pantries in their communities. In 2017, 79 4-Hers distributed 35 tons of produce, from potatoes and apples to eggs and cereal.

In some counties, 4-H members gather food donations to fill weekend backpacks for children to take home. In other communities, food packs are given to elderly residents. Food pantries often lack the simple ingredients for a birthday celebration, so 4-H members around the state went into party mode in 2017, preparing more than 760 birthday bags and distributing them to local pantries and helping agencies.

In Rock Island County, 4-H Hunger Ambassadors plan, prepare and serve community meals each month. The grassroots effort empowers youth to understand hunger in their local community, then tailor a plan to their community’s needs.

The largest packaging event was held Nov. 4, 2017, in Ullin, representing the counties of Alexander, Johnson, Massac, Pulaski and Union. More than 350 volunteers packaged 101,200 meals in five hours.

More than 7,800 4-H youth and adults have volunteered more than 45,000 hours of service to improve access to healthy food in their Illinois communities over the past four years. Illinois 4-H clubs have raised $65,000 local funds to help families in need, providing food to 389 food pantries.

State's department of agriculture fills out Indiana FFA team

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) announced the promotion of Robert Hays to director of the Indiana FFA Assoc., and the hire of Samantha Miller as the association's assistant director.

Hays graduated from Purdue University with a degree in agricultural education and has been the association's assistant director since 2015. Prior to joining ISDA, he was the Agriculture Science and Business teacher for Warsaw Community Schools, as well as the FFA advisor for the school’s local FFA chapter.

As director of the association, Hays will oversee programs, collaborate with ISDA staff to progress agricultural education, enhance communications between FFA advisors and members and act as a liaison between Indiana FFA and National FFA. He will also be responsible for continuing the implementation of the association’s strategic plan, developed during the 2016-17 school year.

Miller is also a graduate from Purdue with a degree in agricultural education. Prior to joining the department, she was the Agriculture Science and Business teacher for Hamilton Southeastern Schools and served as one of the FFA advisors for the school's local FFA chapter.

As the assistant director of the association, Miller will work extensively to enhance the organization’s budgets, goals, recruitment strategies and communication between FFA advisors and members.

Schools find learning, success at the Ohio Area IV Envirothon

DAYTON, Ohio — The excitement was contagious as students gathered on the morning of April 24 for the opening of the 2018 Area IV Envirothon at Possum Creek MetroPark in Dayton.

Each team consists of five students. An adult advisor must accompany the team, but is not permitted to assist during the competition. Students and their teachers spent many hours preparing, poring over study guides, participating in practice Envirothons in their home counties, securing busing and learning from natural resources professionals.

Over the next few hours, 92 teams made up of more than 450 students from an 18-county area in the southwestern corner of Ohio worked to answer questions on the topics of Aquatic Ecology, Forestry, Soils, Wildlife and the Current Environmental Issue (CEI) of Rangeland Grazing. Eleven teams from six Montgomery County schools took part in the competition.

The 2018 Area IV Envirothon brought the contest back into Montgomery County for the first time in 25 years. Each year, a different team of Soil & Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) plan and host the event – this year, the Montgomery and Miami SWCDs collaborated.

Major sponsorship for the Envirothon comes from Cargill, Inc., Honda of America and the 18 SWCDs. Test writers were professionals who represented Five Rivers MetroParks, the Miami Conservancy District, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

A new component to the 2018 event was the addition of a Student Journalist, Aaron Turner from Fayette Christian School, who discretely circulated around the grounds documenting the process. The goal of the Student Journalism component is to expand the reach of the Envirothon into the fields of journalism and public relations.

The top-scoring teams were from Centerville (first and third places), Beavercreek and Russia high schools. The top four teams from the event advance to the Ohio Envirothon, where they will compete with top teams from the other four areas in the state. One or more teams from Montgomery County have progressed to the State Envirothon for at least 12 of the last 16 years. The winning Ohio team then advances to the North American Envirothon, which will be held in Idaho.

If you have never participated in Envirothon and would like to, contact education/information specialist Kristen Lauer at LauerK@mcohio.org or 937-854-7645, Ext. 0521, with questions.

Amanda-Clearcreek FFA selects new officers to February 2019

AMANDA, Ohio — On Feb. 20, the Amanda-Clearcreek FFA held its annual officer elections. This year there were three retiring seniors and 15 candidates ready to take on their roles. This year was record-breaking for the chapter in the number of officer applications submitted, at 16.

The new officers elected were Noah Smith as president, Ellie Sahr as vice president, Sydney Sharp as secretary, Bryson L’Huillier as treasurer, Allie Poston as reporter, Garrett Drake as sentinel and Paige Hinton as student advisor. These individuals were chosen by their peers to represent the A-C FFA Chapter for the next year, ending in February 2019.

In order to complete all of their work, the officers select assistants. The assistants for 2018-19 are Jullian Scott, Emmalee McGee, Morgan Anderson, Kaylee Sharp, Stephanie Bowers, Timothy Smith and Olivia Hutchison. Each assistant is assigned to a specific office.

Scott is serving as the assistant at large, while McGee is the assistant VP, Anderson is the assistant secretary, Sharp is the assistant treasurer, Bowers is the assistant reporter, Smith is the assistant sentinel and Hutchison is the assistant student advisor.

Miami East-MVCTC shows strong in FFA competitions

CASSTOWN, Ohio — The Miami East-MVCTC FFA Chapter has wrapped up some local and state wins in competitions this spring.

The Dairy Cattle Evaluation team members finished a season of Career Development Events. On March 3 at the Marysville/Champaign County Invitational in Marysville, the Dairy Cattle Team placed 16th and consisted of Michael Bair, Chloee Thomas and Elizabeth Bair. Michael was the highest-placing individual from Miami East, at 34th out of 101 contestants.

On March 10 at the Miami Trace FFA Invitational in Washington Court House, the Dairy Cattle Team placed 13th and consisted again of Michael and Elizabeth, and Ethin Bendickson. Michael was the highest-placing individual from Miami East, at 26th out of 93 contestants.

The State Dairy Cattle Evaluation Career Development Event was held on April 7 at Ohio State-ATI in Wooster. The team placed 16th out of 57 teams. The highest-placing individual from Miami East was Bendickson, at 33rd out of 295 contestants.

A special thank you goes to the practice sites – the Dairy Cattle Team practiced at Quietcove Holstein Farm in Wapakoneta, Knoop Holstein Farm in Fletcher, Hershberger Jersey Farm in Troy, Hines Holstein Farm in Chickasaw and Buschur Dairy Farm in New Weston.

Also, several members of the chapter recently competed in the Ohio FFA State Career Development Event for Grain Merchandising. The event consisted of an online test that evaluated each participant’s knowledge of grain merchandising options for farmers, and former and current grain marketing trends.

Members taking the test were Emily Thimmes, Jessica Gillum, Alex Isbrandt, Couy Moreland, Zach Kronenberger, Dylan Hahn, Kylie Blair, Alex DiNardo, Maci Krites, Tyler Heckman, Liza Bair, Abbey Koontz, Jacob Rife, Kami Martin, Cody Niswonger, Brookelyn Hermann, Emma Younce, Lane Mergler, Kaitlyn Hawes and Jacob Brunke.

The team placed ninth out of 41 teams in the state and was led by Thimmes, who placed 22nd out of 288 individuals. Members who competed at the State Finals were Thimmes, Gillum, Moreland and Hahn.