Ag Communications Team Makes Team Finals!

Posted on October 25, 2012 by WCFFA

The 85th National FFA Convention is in full swing and West Central FFA members have been busy representing South Dakota in the National Ag Communications CDE.

Team presentations and Editing and Communications tests were conducted on Wednesday, October 24, 2012.  The top four team presentations are called back for team finals on Thursday, October 25, 2012.  West Central is among those top four team presentations!  The team of Rachel Schartz, Melinda Knuth and Liz Renner will present their Hunger Helpers Media Plan for a second time this afternoon.  Team members are also competing in event practicums which include Web Page Design, News Writing, and Broadcast Journalism.  Full results for the Career Development Event will be announced during an awards luncheon on Friday, October 26, 2012.  We would be remiss if we did not extend our thanks to Paulsen Media, Sherry Knutson, Andrea Johnson, Karin Renner and all West Central Faculty and Staff who have helped our team to achieve.

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2012 Fruit Sale

Posted on October 19, 2012 by WCFFA

Updated – the fruit sale has ended.  Thanks for your continued support of Agricultural Education and FFA at West Central!

The West Central Fruit Sale is now on!  Choose from Oranges, Grapefruit, Tangeloes, D’Anjou Pears and 4 varieties of Apples.  We also feature cheese, sausage and 7 flavors of Butter Braid frozen pastry dough.  New this year is a Bavarian Cream Butter Braid with Chocolate Icing! All proceeds help the members of the West Central FFA Chapter to develop their potential for Premier Leadership, Personal Growth and Career Success. Please place your order by November 12, 2012.  Delivery will take place during the week of December 3, 2012.     We are also providing the option to sponsor an FFA Jacket for a member.

Thank you for your continued support of the West Central FFA Chapter and Agricultural Education at West Central High School!

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Team to Compete at National Event

Posted on September 5, 2012 by WCFFA

Three members of the West Central FFA Chapter have advanced to national competition and will vie for national honors in the area of Agricultural Communications.  Members representing the state and chapter in the event include Liz Renner, Melinda Knuth and Rachel Schartz.

Pictured left to right: Liz Renner, Melinda Knuth, Rachel Schartz and Linda Petersen
 

Agricultural Communications is one of 24 career development event areas ranging from job skills in everything from communications to mechanics.  The three-member team is challenged in all areas of the agricultural communications field.  Participants attend a press conference, utilize information gathered in a team activity and complete individual practicums in design, electronic media and writing.  Students are also  tested on editing and other communications skills.  CDEs help students develop the abilities to think critically, communicate clearly and perform effectively in a competitive job market.  The event supports student development of sound communication principles to become strong assets to the agriculture industry in the future.

Renner, Knuth and Schartz earned a berth in the national competition by winning the state Agricultural Communications CDE earlier this spring.  The team will compete for individual scholarships and team awards worth more than $9000 made possible by the National FFA Foundation during the 85th National FFA Convention this October in Indianapolis, IN.  This year will be the third team to compete in the national Ag Communications CDE since the inception of the event in 2002.  Renner, Knuth and Schartz are members of the West Central FFA Chapter and are advised and coached by Linda Petersen.

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7 Earn Highest Degree

Posted on August 21, 2012 by WCFFA

Sydnie Howey, Stacia Knuth, Spencer Kurtz, Jeremy Nettifee, Brooke Pearson, Tucker Smith and Austin Wolfe, members of the West Central FFA Chapter will be awarded the American FFA Degree during the 85th National FFA Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana in October. Earning the degree means they are among a select group of individuals to be recognized for years of academic and professional excellence.

The American FFA Degree is the highest award that can be bestowed upon an FFA member.  Roughly 3500 members will be awarded the degree during the National FFA Convention.  This represents one half of one percent of all members.  The American FFA recognizes demonstrated leadership ability and outstanding achievements in agricultural business, production, processing or service programs.  To be eligible, members must have earned and productively invested $7,500 through a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program in which they start, own, or hold a professional position in an existing agriculture enterprise.  Recipients must also make it their mission to demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement.

Howey, Knuth, Kurtz, Nettifee, Pearson, Smith and Wolfe are seven of approximately 3,500 members out of more than  540,379 FFA members to earn the degree.  The American FFA Degree recognition program is sponsored by Case IH, DTN, Farm Credit, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Syngenta.  Their FFA Advisor is Linda Petersen.

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State FFA Convention Results

Posted on August 17, 2012 by WCFFA

Congratulations to the following FFA members who represented the West Central FFA at the 84th South Dakota State FFA Convention.

Members competed in several Career Development Events. Results are as follows:

In Horse Judging – Jorry Lammers, Megan Dolly, Chrissy Becker and Erik McCluskey – Bronze

Food Science – Shannon Miller – Bronze, Tiffany Hanisch 7th place – Silver.  Team of Shannon, Tiffany, Katie Stahl and Connor Miles – 5th Place

Nursery Landscape – Olvia Daly – Bronze, Team of Olivia, Jenna Lewis and Olivia Lundquist – 8th Place

Floriculture – Sara Waldner – Bronze; Rachel Schartz – Silver; Melinda Knuth – Gold

Team of Sara, Rachel, Melinda and Lauren Dolly – 10th

Natural Resources – Riley Olson – Silver, Cody Miller – Bronze

Ag Communications – Liz Renner – 3rd Place – Gold, Rachel Schartz – 1st place Gold, team of Liz, Rachel and Melinda Knuth – 1st place.  The team advances to National Competition.

Ten WCFFA members were awarded the State FFA Degree.  The State Degree is the highest award that can be bestowed upon a member at the state level.  Those earning the degree are Shannon Miller, Joe Schartz, Lane Rabern, Riley Olson, Melinda Knuth, Connor Miles, Olivia Lundquist, Evan Thyberg, Dallas Bergeson and BreeAnn Albers.

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Are We There Yet?

Posted on April 25, 2012 by WCFFA

West Central FFA members packed up and headed to Hoven in early March to complete part 2 of our Chapter Exchange.  Students attended classes with their Hoven counterparts on Friday.  The seven WCFFA members dramatically increased the student population in Hoven from 39 in the high school to a whopping 46!

Students worked on small engines during one class period.

West Central students had mixed feelings about Hoven’s traditional 7 period day.  One thing is for sure, WCFFA members LOVED Hoven’s school lunch program.  The food was great and they got to have seconds!

After school we toured the beautiful Catholic Church known as the Cathedral on the Prairie.

 A Lock In was the main event for Friday night.  We participated in a killer game of Dodge Ball.

Danced, a lot.

Challenged ourselves with a relay race.

The wee hours of the morning featured movies projected on the gym wall.  At 6:00 a.m. parents of Hoven FFA members showed up to make eggs and pancakes.

The long drive back to Hartford and Humboldt began after a bit of a nap!

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Officer Exchange Part 1

Posted on April 25, 2012 by WCFFA

West Central FFA has spent much of the 2011-12 year working with members from the Hoven FFA Chapter.  Officers from Hoven and West Central partnered for leadership training during the summer of 2011.  Plans came out of the officer’s retreat to conduct a chapter exchange during the school year.

In February, officers from Hoven came to West Central.  They spent a day attending classes with a WCFFA host.

In AP English, students acted out the story of McBeth.

Honors Chemistry students participated in a molecule building competition.

Students also made bouncy balls.

The group gathered for a picture at the end of the day.

Hoven and WC FFA members attended musical practice, had a potluck Friday evening, and gathered at the homes of members for movie and game nights.

Hoven students enjoyed our block schedule. Some were uncomfortable with the larger number of students in comparison to Hoven.

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Legislative Breakfast

Posted on March 20, 2012 by WCFFA

Four West Central FFA members recently attended District Officer Training and the FFA Legislative Breakfast in Pierre.  District Officers are selected each fall based on a rigorous interview process to represent area schools.  District VII is composed of 9 FFA Chapter which are located near the West Central School District.

Liz Renner, Maty Skinner, Ellie Peterson and Justin Boll represented both District VII and WCFFA.  District Officer Training kicked off the first afternoon at the Capitol Visitor’s Center, included a tour of the State  Capital, a guest appearance and reflections from Lieutenant Governor Matt Michels and round table discussions with legislators, lobbyists, representatives from the Department of Ag, Department of Education and the South Dakota Wheat Growers.

The following morning FFA members sat down for breakfast with legislators from across the state.  Members had a great opportunity to share the Ag Ed and FFA Story with those at their table and got a chance to ask questions of their legislators.

District Officer Training filled the remainder of the morning.  Members learned various facets of leadership and discussed numerous opportunities available to them through their involvement in the FFA.

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Hunger Helpers

Posted on March 20, 2012 by WCFFA

The West Central FFA chapter has been awarded $2500 as part of the inaugural FFA:  Food For All program. The nationwide program provides grant money to local FFA chapters to support year-long service-learning projects focused on developing and implementing sustainable hunger relief projects.

The West Central FFA plans to help fight hunger by implementing several projects.  Providing vegetable plants for family gardens with the understanding that extra produce grown by families will be donated to a local food pantry, the senior citizens center or the school lunch program.  Secondly, planning and implementing a back pack program to provide nutritional weekend meals for children who qualify for free or reduced lunch in the school district.   With 27% of the K-12 student population qualifying for free or reduced lunch, hunger is a problem in our community.  We hope that our activities will increase awareness about hunger in our state and community.

The FFA: Food For All grant program is administered by the National FFA Organization, with funding provided by Farmers Feeding the World and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The program provided $330,000 to FFA chapters in 41 states. More information about the program can be found at www.FFA.org/foodforall.

More information will be available on the Hunger Helpers website as plans are made.

 

 

 

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2012 State Degree Recipients

Posted on March 20, 2012 by WCFFA

The  State FFA Degree is the highest award a member can earn on the state level.  The degree requires members to work in an ag related placement, business or entrepreneurial setting during the course of their high school career.  Each member must show a record of hours worked, dollars invested or earned and their FFA activities above the chapter level.

The following West Central FFA members will receive the State FFA Degree during the State FFA Convention April 15-17, 2012.  BreeAnn Albers, Dallas Bergeson, Melinda Knuth, Olivia Lundquist, Shannon Miller, Connor Miles, Riley Olson, Lane Rabern, Joe Schartz and Evan Thyberg

State FFA Degree Applications were approved by the District VII screening committee and further during the State FFA Executive Committee meeting.

Joe Schartz was selected as the District VII Star in Placement and will be awarded the Mary Hanson Scholarship of $750.

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