SENIORS The 2024 Pettisville FFA seniors had a great banquet wrapping up their FFA careers From left Jenna Norman Ella Richer Sophie Sterken Mina Wesche Lily Wiemken Johnny Fenton Kaleb Wyse and Karter Zachrich
By: Olivia Beck
PETTISVILLE FFA REPORTER
On March 24th, 2024, the Pettisville FFA Chapter held the 74th Pettisville FFA Banquet, which took place at Pettisville Missionary Church.
This year, 17 FFA members received their Discovery Degrees. This degree is given to 7th and 8th graders in their 1st year of being an FFA member.
The Star Discovery was awarded to Carter Beck, an 8th grader. Carter has been active in Fall sales, being a leader in his class, and his Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE) with raising tilapia in the aquatank at school.
There were 20 members who received their Greenhand Degree. This degree is given to freshman and above, first year members. The Star Greenhands were awarded to Kaleb Wyse and Sophie Wilke.
Kaleb Wyse has started multiple successful SAEs including market broilers and was the Pest Hunt winner. Sophie competed in the Parliamentary Procedure, Soils, Vet Science, Floriculture and Livestock Judging contests.
This year, eight members were awarded the Chapter FFA Degree. To be able to acquire this degree, a member must earn $150 or work 45 hours on their SAE, participate in three chapter functions, and lead a discussion about an agricultural topic.
This year’s Star Chapter Award was given to Courtney Wiemken. She served as the assistant treasurer, operates a sheep production SAE, and has helped grow and lead our chapter.
The Pettisville FFA Chapter raised a fall sales high this year. The top four outstanding Fall salesmen were, first place Ava Genter, second place Sophie Sterken, third place Natalia Alencastro, and fourth place Creighton Aeschliman.
The Good Recordkeeping Award, which was sponsored by Nofziger Trucking, was given to students who have kept their records consistent in the Agriculture Experience Tracker (AET). Nine FFA members were given this award. Karter Zachrich and Ava Genter were the Outstanding Recordkeeping Award recipients.
A new award was added this year called the Mr. & Ms. Volunteer Award. It is given to students who are quick to volunteer and do the not-so-fun jobs. This year’s winners were Natalia Alencastro, Gavin Dahlke, and Jayden Bleikamp.
The Top Scholar Award is for a junior and senior FFA member who has the highest GPA over all their classes through the first semester of the current school year. The Top Scholar Award recipients were Sophie Sterken and Caden Bishop, each of them has obtained a 4.0 GPA.
The Ron Rupp Leadership Award was received by Sophie Sterken. The award is given to a junior or senior that exhibits outstanding leadership.
Sophie has consistently shown leadership to the chapter during her years in FFA. She most recently served as the chapter reporter and earned a gold rating on her reporter book.
The Junior Achievement Award was received by Olivia Miller. Olivia competed on the Livestock Judging team and showed tremendous leadership as the chapter treasurer.
The Senior Achievement Award went to three outstanding seniors this year, Sophie Sterken, Lily Wiemken, and Ella Richer each receiving this award.
Sophie, Lily, and Ella have all served on the chapter officer leadership team and served the chapter well for the past year.
Sophie managed the school greenhouse, did yard work and had an agriscience fair project for her SAEs. Lily has managed multiple SAEs including lawn care, animal care and agriscience fair. Ella has passionately pursued agriscience research throughout high school, which has served as her SAE.
The FFA Alumni gave three senior scholarships of $500.000 each. Ella Richer, Lily Wiemken, and Sophie Sterken each received this scholarship.
The FFA Alumni also gave Founding Member Grants to four members. Lincoln Aeschliman, Ty Morrison, Natalia Alencastro, and Kaleb Wyse all received this grant to start or expand their SAEs.
This year, two Honorary Chapter Degrees were given to Superintendent, Josh Clark and JH/HS Principal, Adam Wagner, each of which have been supportive of transitioning to two new agriculture teachers in the program.
The two administrators have come alongside the students and encouraged them all while endorsing various field trips and requests from members and advisors.
Mr. Clark and Mr. Wagner attended the National FFA Convention with the chapter this fall as well. We are very grateful for everything they have done for our chapter!
In the Pest Hunt, over 13,000 points were turned in this year. The top two scorers were recognized. Kaleb Wyse (9th) placed first with over 8,000 points and Lincoln Aeschliman in second with 4,875 points.
Agriscience Research Awards were presented to Ella Richer, Lily Wiemken, Sophie Sterken, Mina Wesche, and River Vajen.
River and Sophie will go on to present their projects at the State level for the top 4 placings. Beck Show Lambs sponsored the Research Awards. Each presented their findings at the District 1 FFA Agriscience Fair.
Officer Book Gold Ratings were given out. Ella Richer, Olivia Miller, and Sophie Sterken all received gold ratings on their officer books this year and will be recognized at the Ohio State FFA Convention. Prizes were sponsored by the Weber Family.
The Positive Points Performer Awards go to members that scored over 350 leadership points. Thirty-nine FFA members received this award. The top performers in each class were: freshman Kaleb Wyse, sophomore Natalia Alencastro, junior Olivia Miller, and senior Sophie Sterken.
Sophie Sterken was the 2023-2024 Chapter Sweetheart and she crowned Olivia Miller as the 2024-2025 Chapter Sweetheart.
Concluding the 74th Annual Banquet, the 2024-2025 Officer Team was installed with Ava Genter as President, Olivia Miller as Vice President, Natalia Alencastro as Secretary, Courtney Weimken as Treasurer, Olivia Beck as Reporter, Creighton Aeschliman as Sentinel, and Noelle Fox as Student Advisor. New officer positions this year were given to Sophie Wilke as Historian, Kaleb Wyse as Parliamentarian, and Genevieve Galvin as Chaplin.
