Sub-district Competition

The mission of the National FFA Organization is to "develop students' potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education." One way this mission is carried out is through Career Development Events. Better known as CDEs, they present an opportunity for students to learn skills that they will use throughout their lives- even if they no longer revolve around the agricultural industry.

The main events at the sub-district level include prepared public speaking, parliamentary procedure, extemporaneous public speaking, creed, and tractor driving. In the prepared public speaking event, a student researches a subject extensively and memorizes a hand written speech to recite for a judging panel. In parliamentary procedure, a team must hold a mock meeting and conduct business while debating and keeping notes and order. The extemporaneous speaking event gives a student a random topic in which they must come up with a speech in thirty minutes to recite convincingly to judges. In the creed event only open to Freshmen, a student must memorize the FFA creed and recite it to judges with full understanding of what the organization stands for. Finally, tractor driving participants must learn tractor safety rules and operate the machinery in an obstacle course setting. 

All Career Development events are designed to teach lifelong skills to students and the National FFA Organization wishes to create future leaders who use these skills to the fullest. Public speaking competitions such as prepared, extemporaneous, creed, and even parliamentary procedure get students to think about how best to present oneself and the importance of word choice and clarity towards communication. Tractor driving emphasizes safety, knowing the machinery you use, and how to operate a vehicle. Parliamentary procedure further demonstrates how to equally include the minority and majority of an opinion.

So without further ado, the winners of the 2014 Sub-district Competition:

1st place Prepared Public Speaking- Kellie Zambito

1st place Extemporaneous Public Speaking- Alexis Yahre

1st place Creed Speaking- Nicole Ramrazzatto

1st place Parliamentary Procedure- Kellie Zambito, Cassidy Hampton, Emily Casper, Zoe Wallace, Amanda Walther, and Alex Brockhum

3rd place Tractor Operations- Amanda Walther

Also, Kellie Zambito was elected as Sub-district chairman. 

Congratulations!!!

Baked Goods and Poinsettia Sale

 From handing out donuts at club meetings or holding chapter parties to the end of the year banquet, funds play a large role in making chapter events what they are. As a chapter, the reasoning for anything we do is that it goes back to the members and community. To continue this support, we must act like most organizations and hold fundraisers. 

For this fundraising venture, Alumni and chapter members worked together at two locations. On Saturday, officers split up into two groups. One group was to sell baked goods and poinsettias at the Avalon horse show. The second group sold poinsettias and water bottles at the Lake Park Craft Festival. Sitting under a tent all day was surprisingly exhausting, and  we thank everyone who donated money, purchased goods, and donated the water bottles. We also thank members and parents who continued to work at Lake Park on Sunday and for the support of the community.

Chapter Party at Q-Zar!

Steinbrenner agriculture teacher Mrs. Parry threw down the gauntlet towards her FFA members. The challenge: a laser tag face off. Eagerly, students got involved and played two rounds on Saturday evening. Following rules not to run was a bit tough (especially while being hunted down), but members played two great games full of energy. Laughing at the bad team placements and rejoicing in the good ones, the experience was helpful in bringing us together. 

In the future we may open up to even more avenues for team bonding, most recent requests being paintball and the like. Suggestions are always welcomed, and we love to take into consideration other's opinions to help our chapter grow.

Club Meeting!

The month of November brings families together, changing leaves (not much in Florida though), and Pumpkin Spice Lattes. This month also brings the FFA members in our chapter to meet once again. At this meeting, announcements included asking for donations for volunteer work at the Avalon Horse Show and recruiting for the chapter party at Q-Zar. Games included the traditional Statue in the Park game and a balloon popping team activity. We thank everyone who attended and hope we get a lot of support in these upcoming events.

Chapter Party at Lake Park

To encourage bonding between chapter members, officers organized a party at Lake Park. From 11 to 3, members played horse shoes, cornhole, and a VERY competitive game of kickball. Food was provided courtesy of Pizza Villa, and there was more than enough to go around. The party was a great success, and we hope to do this again in the future.

Club Meeting!

Today we had the first club meeting of the year! The time constraints made everything a little hectic, yet we still got a lot accomplished. Business included T-shirt designs, voting on ammendments, going over announcements, eating snacks, and playing games. We hope everyone had a great time and will continue to come back!

Federation Meeting

Last Saturday, officers attended a federation meeting held at the Hillsborough Fairgrounds. The chapter and those who attended benefited by getting our name more recognized in the community and learning important life skills. Traveling to many sessions throughout the day taught by our federation officer team, officers learned the nuances of public speaking, getting along with others, community service, and writing sincere thank you notes. For any members who would wish to run for a federation officer position next year, it is a very rewarding experience.

Zoe Wallace (far left), the president of our chapter, also serves as chaplain on the federation team.

The highly interactive community service session highlighted the fact that although not all problems are solvable, and hardships get in the way, it is important to keep trying to help others. 

COLT

From Wednesday to Thursday, our officers embarked to attend the Chapter Officer Leadership Training conducted in Haines City. Spending a night on location then doing the training the next morning, the experience was beneficial for team bonding. It is important for any team to be committed and hard working. Improving trust between officers will only result in a better performance this year.

The training itself, run by our state officers, was very informative. Our officers gained knowledge on concepts such as the magnetism which draws others to a cause, and how to develop oneself as a leader. They were asked to examine the fine line between confidence and arrogance, and ponder what direction they would enjoy seeing our chapter head in this year. We hope through this training that the chapter will only grow from here.

Despite some great girl scout skills in attempting to keep the bonfire going, it eventually burned out.