Hay Bale Decorating Contest

For the second year running, our chapter has participated in the Florida State Fair hay bale decorating contest. In this contest, members are tasked with planning the design and execution of turning a provided hay bale into something else. For this year, we kept with the theme "watch our chapter grow" and devised a way to turn our hay bale into a watering can. Supplies were short, but by sticking to a budget and getting quite creative we managed to pull it out. In fact, we won second place and $350 for our chapter! Thank you to everyone who came to help put it together and a special thank you to Audra Skinner and the Wallace family for helping with supplies!

District Competition

The 2014 District 9 winners are as follows:

1st place Extemporaneous Public Speaking- Alexis Yahre

3rd place Prepared Public Speaking- Kellie Zambito

3rd place Creed- Nicole Ramazzatto

3rd place Parliamentary Procedure- Kellie Zambito, Cassidy Hampton, 

Emily Casper, Zoe Wallace, Alex Brockhum, Amanda Walther

Congratulations everyone!

1st place means you are going to State level! Way to go!

Federation Meeting

"Individual commitment to a group effort? That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work."    - Vince Lombardi 

For the Federation meeting held at Gaither High School, members from multiple chapters came together to learn the value of T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K. Through participation in multiple activities, thought provoking questions were given to mull over such as how much commitment does one give to the FFA and what are the gains? 

"I sacrifice my time with friends because of my officer position", said one member,"but I wouldn't change it because I have learned so much and made even more friends through this club". 

Very similar responses arose from those in attendance, yet none regretted the impact the club has had in their lives. The commitment they give to the organization will only help them in becoming better officers on their team, they learned. If every person on a team actively wants to work towards something similar, then there will be a better chance of it getting accomplished. And if the team is kind, organized, responsible, and open-minded as well as committed, then they are well on their way to achieving their goals. So what else makes a good team?

     

T- together

E- enthusiasm

A- attitude

M- matters

W- willingness

O- organized

R- respect

K- knowledge

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.