TIE-BLANKETS … Senior FFA members Carson Crossgrove, Devin Dempsey, Cameron Schlosser, Conner Sanders, and Libbie Baker display their completed tie-blanket to be donated at the Christmas for Kids Toy Drive sponsored by the Hilltop High School Student Council.
STATE JOB INTERVIEW … Ashtyn Sanders competed in the State Job Interview Virtual Preliminaries on November 23rd and placed 8th in the state for Division 1 (Freshmen).
BECK’S BLUE JACKETS … Coleton Ebersole was selected as one of the Beck’s Blue Jackets recipients and had his FFA jacket donated by Fred Burch of Trillium Farms.
BECK’S BLUE JACKETS … Carlee Schaffner was selected as one of the Beck’s Blue Jackets recipients and had her FFA jacket donated by Rolland Wolfrum of Cardinal Creek Seeds.
NOVICE PARLI PRO … The Novice Parli Pro team of (front) Aliegha Seiradzki, Ashtyn Sanders, Addison Smith, Carlee Schaffner, Rachel Dickinson, (back) Ayden Bennett, Anthony Jiannuzzi, Peyton Stocklin, and Evan Siegel placed 1st in Williams County and 5th in District 1.
By: Zakkary Cammack
FFA REPORTER
After returning home from a very successful National FFA Convention at the end of October, the Millcreek-West Unity FFA members hit the ground running as November began, participating in several Career Development Events and community service opportunities.
On November 4th, the Becks Blue Jackets recipients were announced. Two of our first year FFA members, Coleton Ebersole and Carlee Schaffner, were the recipients of their FFA jackets through this program!
Becks Blue Jackets is a program where community members donate monetarily toward first year FFA members’ jackets.
Members must submit a written application, answering three essay questions to be considered for this generous donation.
Coleton Ebersole’s sponsor was Fred Burch of Trillium Farms, and Carlee Schaffner’s jacket was sponsored by Rolland Wolfrum of Cardinal Creek Seeds.
Both FFA members were honored and grateful to receive this wonderful gift that will serve them throughout their FFA career!
On Saturday, November 9th, eight chapter members helped the West Unity Lions Club with their Annual Feather Party Fundraiser. Landon Bleikamp, Alex Cox, Levi Cox, Reese Eisel, Carlee Schaffner, Zia Siegel, Jacob Stewart, Brayden Talbott, and Nathan Wieland helped Lion’s Club members by collecting Bingo tickets, handing out prizes, and then helping clean up afterward.
In October four of the Millcreek-West Unity FFA Chapter members competed in the County Job Interview LDE and placed first or second in their respective divisions. This allowed them to move on to the District 1 Job Interview LDE which was held November 7th at Clay High School in Oregon, OH.
Competing in the Job Interview LDE, participants completed a job application, had a 20-minute interview, and then wrote a follow-up letter based on the interview.
Ashtyn Sanders placed 1st in Division I, freshmen, and was eligible for the preliminary state competition. Addi Smith placed 3rd in Division I, freshmen. Zakk Cammack placed 6th in Division III, juniors. Brooke Moreland placed 2nd in Division IV, seniors.
Each member did a wonderful job representing the Millcreek-West Unity FFA Chapter and developed skills which will continue to help them as they enter the career field.
The District 1 Food Science CDE was held at the same time and location as the Job Interview LDE and this allowed our members to compete in both Job Interview and Food Science. In the Food Science CDE, participants completed math problems, a food analysis, triangle tests, aroma identification, food safety/ sanitation questions, customer inquiries, a general knowledge test, and then completed a team event developing a new food product based on customer input.
This is the first year that Millcreek-West Unity FFA competed in this contest, and the team of Libbie Baker, Zakk Cammack, Rachel Dickinson, Brooke Moreland, Ashtyn Sanders, Conner Sanders, Addi Smith, and Peyton Stocklin placed 9th in the district.
On November 13th, the Advanced and Novice Parliamentary Procedure Teams competed in the County Parliamentary Procedure LDE at Northwest State Community College.
They completed a general knowledge test before performing a mock meeting in front of judges demonstrating their knowledge of Parliamentary Law.
The Novice Team of: Ayden Bennett, Rachel Dickinson, Anthony Jiannuzzi, Ashtyn Sanders, Carlee Schaffner, Evan Siegel, Aliegha Sieradski, Addi Smith, and Peyton Stocklin placed 1st and advanced to the District 1 Parliamentary Procedure contest at Anthony Wayne High School on November 19th.
At the District 1 contest, they placed 5th. The Advanced Parliamentary Procedure team of: Libbie Baker, Zakk Cammack, Levi Cox, Carson Crossgrove, Brooke Moreland, Conner Sanders, and Jordan Schaffner placed 2nd at the county level. The teams did a great job representing the Millcreek-West Unity Chapter in a tough contest!
For the November FFA Meeting on the 21st, the chapter tried something new after the meeting portion. As a recreation and community service activity, chapter members grouped up to make eight tie-blankets with the intention to donate them for the Christmas for Kids Toy Drive held by the Hilltop High School Student Council on December 7th.
Millcreek-West Unity FFA Alumni and 2024 Williams County Fair Queen, Ingrid Hoffman, joined the chapter to volunteer her expertise on creating tie-blankets. There were many laughs and comradery as the members enjoyed each other’s company creating these gifts.
On Saturday, November 23rd, Ashtyn Sanders participated in the State Job Interview Prelims virtually to finish out the CDEs and LDEs for the 2024 year. She had twenty minutes to complete a job application through Google Forms, twenty minutes for a Zoom interview, and then twenty minutes to write a follow-up letter based on the interview. She placed 8th in Division 1 Freshmen!
To round out the month and celebrate Thanksgiving Break, the Animal and Plant Science class prepared their farm-to-table chickens on the 26th.
The class received 24 Cornish cross chicks at the end of September and then did research on how electrolytes and apple cider vinegar added to water affected the chicken’s growth rates when compared to the control group of water with nothing added.
They wrote a research paper about their findings and then celebrated Thanksgiving early by preparing a homemade meal with the chickens they raised.
They were also challenged to create the whole meal from scratch and for many, this was their first experience baking with yeast! The meals turned out to be delicious and the students enjoyed eating together.