By: Reporter, Sydney Reineck
From officer retreat to fruit delivery, the Paulding FFA had a highly active and fun-filled year! From trips and contest, the chapter has been very successful this year. At the beginning 2018, the chapter had a very successful pancake and sausage dinner before one of the home basketball games. The chapter’s Ag Communication, Ag sales, and Food Science teams were successful this year at districts and made it to state. The Chapter kicked off FFA week with a school-wide country Olympics. The chapter had many members drive in tractors in March for drive your tractor to school day. They had a highly successful petting zoo in April with over 800 students and staff visiting over 20 different animals in the Ag shop. The chapter had their annual banquet where the 2018-2019 officers were elected.
The chapter attended state convention in May where one of their own, Kalyn Strahley, became the Ohio FFA State Treasurer. Kalyn has made her chapter extremely proud! While at state convention the chapter toured a whistle factory and a candy factory. We had ten FFA members participate in FFA Feeds Hunger. Members made macaroni cheese packets for the feeds hunger group to pass out. While at State Convention, the chapter received many rewards. The chapter accepted an award for being a charitable chapter and had two members Shannon Hale and Jennifer Stahl receive Washington Leadership Conference scholarships. Then Courtney Luderman, Emma Horstman and Kaylie Tressler got recognized for gold ratings on their officer book. Courtney Luderman and Kalyn Strahley received their State FFA degrees. It was a very successful State FFA Convention. To finish off the month of May, the chapter had a very successful plant sale, selling plants that had been grown by the greenhouse class.
In June, the chapter had over 50 members participate in The Paulding County Fair. The chapter’s vice president, Courtney Luderman, received the Outstanding Livestocker award. They had multiple members received awards in their still projects and a few of the members won grand and reserve champion for their specific species. In July, the chapter had a float in the local John Paulding Day Parade where they passed out candy and interacted with members of the community. In August, The chapter officers had a wonderful officer retreat in Peebles, Ohio. They spent three days without cell service in the middle of the woods. They participated in team bonding and went canoeing.
In September, the chapter tried something new this year. In the fall, the food science classes prepared meals which were put in brown bags for our local farmers. The bags had apples, cookies, a bag of chips, and a water bottle in them. FFA members delivered the food to the local farmers in the fields during harvest to thank them for feeding America. Overall they handed out over 100 meals. They are very excited about this project and hope that it continues in the upcoming years.
In October the chapter had 14 members attend National Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. Hannah Farr and Katlynn Fuller received their American FFA Degree, which is the highest degree a FFA member can achieve. They took multiple tours of farms while they were in Indy and had a fun- filled week. In mid- October the chapter started their fruit sale and ended it in December. The chapter started up their trapshooting team again and held a couple shoots at the Paulding Fish and Game Club. In November, the FFA held their 2nd Annual Ag Ball tournament and had 5 different FFA Chapters compete in the fun day of Ag basketball. At the end of November, the chapter adopted a few families for their annual adopt the family. They would like to say thank you to the kind lady who donated $20.00 towards this project at Walmart. The chapter had several members help with the Salvation Army with their annual Christmas bell ringing at the local Chief. Overall the Chapter had a successful year and we are excited for the 2019 FFA Year!
