The 84th annual FFA banquet is quickly approaching! On March 18, Wauseon FFA will be hosting members and their families, as well as employers and local business people from around the area. This event starts at 6:00 pm in the high school gym. After dinner is served, the program will move into the auditorium for the awards portion. Degree ceremonies, members, sales and star awards will be presented. Next, proficiency, CDE teams, and scholarship recipients will be recognized. Finally, the 2014-2015 officer team will be installed before closing ceremonies.
Officers were recently elected for the upcoming 2014-2015 school year. Serving as Historian position will be Ross Whipple. Ross is currently a freshman. He plans on improving the Wauseon FFA Chapter by getting more people to participate. Some of the activities he has participated in include the Wildlife CDE, the Soils CDE, and popping popcorn at home basketball games.
Serving as Sentinel will be Beth Yackee. Beth, currently a freshman, is also motivated to recruit more student involvement in the chapter. Some of the FFA activities that she has been involved in are Food 4 America and creating the 2014 Chapter T-shirt.
Grant Suntken will serve as Student Advisor. Currently a freshman, he is also interested in recruiting others to be involved. He has been involved in the Wildlife CDE, cleaning the woods, and the 212/360 conference.
The FFA President will be Sam Richer who is currently a junior. He is passionate for agriculture and plans to pursue a career in that direction. He strives to improve the chapter by leading through example. He is involved in meat and rural soils CDEs, fruit sales, and officer team.
Treasurer will be Dylan Nicely, a current junior. He is interested in encouraging underclassmen to become involved. Dylan is involved in the meats team.
Secretary will be Emalee Stewart, a current sophomore. She is interested in improving FFA by getting more people involved in meetings at the middle school level. The FFA activities she is involved in are Dairy Judging CDE, Public Speaking, Food 4 America, Leadership Night, and conventions.
Josh Collins, a current freshman, will be serving as Reporter for the upcoming school year. He is interested in adjusting FFA meeting times to work around other school clubs and sports in order to improve attendance. He has been involved with T-shirt design, Farm Science Review, and Food for America.
Zoe Poling, a current sophomore, will serve in the role of Vice-President. She would also like to see younger students involved in the FFA. Her FFA activities include Equine CDE, Public Speaking, Food for America, Delta Leadership Night, FFA Camp, and convention.
Many FFA members have been honored and awarded through their Supervised Agriculture Experience. Individual awards can be earned in 49 areas, with two categories under each area, entrepreneurship and placement. Placement is an employment or internship at an agribusiness. Entrepreneurship is the ownership of an agribusiness. The following students applied for the awards. They are, along with their placement, Ross Andre, Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management, Placement Ranking 1st in the district and Top 4 in the state. Sam Richer, Vegetable Production, Entrepreneurship, Placement Ranking 1st in the District and Silver in the State, Derick Rufenacht, Dairy, Placement Ranking 1st in the District and Bronze in the State, Jeremy Ruger, Accounting, Ranking 2nd in the District and Honorable Mention in the State, Micah Schmunk, Ag Mechanics and Repair, Placement Ranking 1st in the District and Top 4 in the State, and Austin Wagner, Diversified Agriculture Production, Placement Ranking 1st in the District and Bronze in the State.
Qualified members who can receive the State Degree must have a qualified Supervised Agricultural Experience Program (SAE), completed 2 years of school, earned/invested $1,000 or worked 300 hours outside of scheduled class time, and have already received their Chapter Degree. This year’s recipients are:
• Sam Richer, Junior
• Ethan Bingham, 1st Year Grad.
Once a student has met all of the above requirements for the State Degree, they can begin to work towards their American Degree by obtaining a 3rd year of instructional classroom time, have earned and productively invested at least $7,500, or have earned and productively invested at least $1,500 and worked 2,250 hours beyond scheduled school hours though their SAEs. This year’s recipients are:
• Saul Triana, 2nd Year Grad
• Ethan Bingham, 1st Year Grad
Students have also applied for awards which will be awarded at this year’s FFA banquet. Senior scholarship opportunities include the, American Farmer Scholarship which was created in honor of a previous agriculture instructor, Mr. Jim Spiess and the DeAnn Merillat Scholarship, given to the female that will be majoring in an agriculturally related field and is in memory of DeAnn Merillat who was the first female in Wauseon FFA history to receive her state degree. In addition, the Wauseon FFA Chapter Scholarship is awarded to a student that has been actively involved in the chapter at the local, state and national level.
Other award opportunities include the 110% Award presented to an FFA member from any grade level in the chapter who has demonstrated an exceptional effort in promoting the chapter’s goals and activities. The member must have served as a solid role model, expressed a positive attitude and has been willing to complete the little things that often occur behind the scenes. Next, the Greenhand Degree is awarded to first year students who have demonstrated knowledge of the organization’s history, identifying symbols and motto, memorized the FFA Creed, and begun to establish a supervised agricultural experience program. The Outstanding Junior is an award that recognizes the most distinctive junior who has provided outstanding service to the chapter. The recipient has gone above and beyond his/her responsibilities in FFA activities and has shown interest, motivation and tremendous skill in several different areas of agricultural education. The Honorary Chapter Degree rewards people who are helping to advance agricultural education and the FFA, and who have rendered outstanding service. This individual(s) was elected by a majority vote of the members present at the February meeting.
The Wauseon FFA chapter continues to be a strong program at the Wauseon High School.
