CAN DRIVE … Rachel Dickinson, Ashtyn Sanders, Addi Smith, Maddox Reinbolt, Anthony Jiannuzzi, and Evan Siegel help to sort and stock the donated items in the Millcreek-West Unity Local School Food Pantry.
CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE … Tina Dickinson, Zia Siegel, Jacob Stewart and Landon Stuckey prepare to help with horse games at MJ Stables Christmas Open House.
STATE OFFICER VISIT … State FFA Vice – President At-Large, Ryan Bowsher, joins the Agribusiness Seniors: Landon Stuckey, Libbie Baker, Brian Guillen, Devin Dempsey, and Cameron Schlosser for a picture during the State Officer Visit.
By: Zakkary Cammack
FFA Reporter
December was a fast month for the Millcreek-West Unity FFA Chapter. With our annual fruit sale at the beginning of the month and closing out the semester with a school-wide can drive and state officer visit, chapter members have been busy!
This year chapter members began our annual fruit sale in October, and the items arrived the first week of December. Vendors in the fruit sale included Florida Farm Bureau Nuts, Ohio Apples, Blue Freedom Farms Citrus, Meat, and Cheese, D.B. Yummers BBQ Sauce, Special Grounds Coffee, Three Cord, and Mennonite Pantry Chocolate and Party Mixes.
Thanks to strong community support, the FFA Chapter sold over $21,000 worth of fruit and companion items. The money grossed from this goes to support chapter members, helps with travel costs to State and National Convention and FFA Camp, helps to fund the Annual FFA Banquet costs, and goes back to support the community. The chapter looks forward to our Strawberry and Honey sale that will begin in the middle of January.
During the week of December 9th, the Millcreek-West Unity FFA Chapter held a school-wide Can Drive to collect non-perishable items to restock the food pantry at the school and a supply drive to donate items to Hurricane Helene Relief.
The Hilltop Food Pantry supports community members in need. Hilltop students showed up for the task, bringing in over 2700 items to donate to local families in need!
In elementary, Mr. Leu’s class brought in the most items, donating 558 non-perishable goods, and Mrs. Dunson’s class brought in the next highest amount with 472 items! These two classes were treated to a cookie decorating party donated by the FFA.
For the high school, Mr. Schaper’s Academy brought in the most items, with Mr. Vickory’s Academy bringing in the second highest amount.
These two academy classes were treated to a pizza party donated by the FFA. Nora Frank, in 4th grade, donated the most non-perishable food items and was awarded a Christmas gift basket full of goodies donated by the FFA.
The FFA also hosted a Christmas Door Decorating contest for all the junior high and high school academy classes to spread holiday cheer the week of December 9th with judging held on the 13th.
The honorable judge, Mrs. Batt selected Mrs. Warner’s Academy as the winners with their fun portrayal of The Grinch! The winning academy was treated to cupcakes baked by Tammie Kesler, which instigated the hard-fought battle between the academies.
To end the week, nine chapter members volunteered at MJ Stables helping Erin Hausch with her Christmas Open House on Saturday, December 14th.
Owen Anderson, Tina Dickinson, Seeley Easley, Coleton Ebersole, Aaden Judy, Aleaha Judy, Zia Siegel, Jacob Stewart, and Landon Stuckey helped lead horses for guests as they rode the horses and played horse games.
They also helped guests with cookie decorating, writing letters to Santa, supervising the petting zoo, and creating Christmas ornaments.
On Monday December 16th, the chapter had the pleasure of hosting Ohio FFA Vice President At-Large, Ryan Bowsher, from the Spencerville FFA Chapter. Ryan led the FFA members through a workshop, facing several challenges to teach them about working through and overcoming the challenges they face in life.
The first challenge was to argue and defend a point to a partner, “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” and “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” This lesson taught members the concept of “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
The second challenge was to lead a blindfolded partner through an obstacle course using only their voice as a guide, leading them to the shoe that the guiding partner had taken off. (Safety precautions were taken.)
The blindfolded partner then had to find the correct shoe and put it on their partner’s foot. They were purposefully led to the wrong shoe, and most struggled to put the shoe they thought was their partners on their foot.
After removing their blindfold, they realized they had placed the wrong shoe on their partner’s foot and were asked how they felt about being wrong and if they blamed the other partner for leading them to the wrong shoe.
This challenge was to teach members that “Confidence comes from not always being right but having no fear in being wrong.”
For the last challenge, groups were formed and tasked with building the tallest tower they could using the materials they were given. They had to complete the task with their dominant hand behind their back.
At the end of about 3 minutes, they were stopped, and the tallest tower was determined. Not all the groups had the same kinds or amounts of materials, and Ryan asked the members if they thought the challenge was fair. The take home of this challenge was “Your life is 10% what you’re dealt and 90% how you react.”
To conclude the workshop, Ryan passed out a playing card for each member to write out an inspirational quote on, reminding them about overcoming challenges when life gets tough.
As the chapter begins 2025, we anticipate applying for state and national awards and degrees as well as beginning our spring competitions!
