Staunton FFA first quarter recap

With the first quarter of the school year quickly coming to an end, it felt like a perfect time to look back on all our accomplishments thus far. This quarter has been an amazing one for the Staunton FFA. We held three chapter meetings, participated in four contests, and began preparation for a crowd favorite, our haunted house, and so much more. We were even fortunate enough for three of the five major state FFA officers to spend a few days with our chapter! Let's take a look in a bit more detail at just what we have been up to!

To kick off the school year, Staunton FFA held its first chapter meeting of the school year. At the meeting, the Staunton FFA officer team was able to give their first formal introduction to the chapter as a newly installed team. A short recap was given about the chapter's activities over the summer and introductions were made to new members. Towards the end of the meeting an ice cream social was set up for the members and time was allotted for any questions or concerns about the upcoming year FFA-wise. Members also helped the city park cars during the Balloon Glow and helped with the Staunton FFA Alumni Tractor Drive event.

The month of September held many opportunities for FFA members. At the beginning of the month, members had the opportunity to attend Illinois FFA Day at the Ballpark hosted by Illinois Association FFA. The FFA organization was recognized at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and was open to all FFA members state-wide. A total of eight individuals from the Staunton FFA attended the St. Louis Cardinals versus the Chicago Cubs game on Sept. 4. Several members helped cook for the Safety Day held at Net Church and while there, attended a stop-the-bleed training. As the month continued, members competed in the Section 15 Horse Evaluation CDE hosted at Massa Stables in Litchfield and the Section 15 Forestry CDE held at Beaver Dam State Park outside of Carlinville. Staunton did very well at both of these competitions having multiple members place in the top 10 individuals in their divisions. At the horse judging contest, Staunton's Discovery (middle school) team placed second, the Greenhand (freshman) team placed third, and Varsity (10th-12th grades) finished second as well. Looking at the forestry contest results, Staunton's Discovery team came in first place, our Greenhand team placed second, and our Varsity team ended up in third! Also in September, we hosted our 2nd chapter meeting of the school year, where three of the five major State FFA Officers were in attendance. During our meeting, students enjoyed eating walking tacos, talked about upcoming events, and then watched the chapter officers get wet in a "getting to know you" activity. Staunton High School hosted the Section 15 Leadership Training School in September, too. LTS is designed to help FFA members throughout the section better their leadership skills and become both better students and FFA members. A total of 14 Staunton FFA members attended this event. While they were in town the major state officers also did chapter visits with some of the agriculture classes at Staunton schools. Students participated in various team-building activities and had the opportunity to come up with a goal card to use as motivation for the upcoming year. This year, our FFA officer team decided to try a new recruitment technique by hosting an FFA Rush Week. During rush week, students in both the middle and high schools were encouraged to participate in the daily dress-up days such as white lie Wednesday and Staunton Bulldog pride Friday. The rush week provided students the opportunity to become more familiar with the FFA organization as a whole and more specifically the Staunton FFA chapter. Rush week was a huge success as we gained multiple new members and had lots of participation from both members and non-members! To wrap up September, our annual FFA-in-a-Day event was hosted after school on Monday, Sept. 26. The goal of FFA-in-a-Day is to provide new members with a better understanding of just what the FFA is all about and to inspire them to become more active members of our chapter.

October has started off just as busy with two career development events, Agronomy and Agriculture Sales. Staunton's Discovery team placed second overall in the contest followed by our Greenhand team in third, and finally our Varsity team in fourth. The Ag Sales CDE was also held that same night which was a fantastic success. Our ag sales team placed first overall and will be advancing to the district contest on Nov. 1. Each team member competed individually in separate sales rooms with different judges. We want to give a huge congratulations to Riley Kessler, Daniel Blotevogel, and Jillian McLaughlin for all placing first in their rooms; as well as to Dain Volentine for placing second in his room. Committee meetings began for the Bulldog Haunted House. The planning committee has come up with exciting new ideas for this year's haunted house which will be shared with the public at a later date. The Staunton FFA Chapter also held its October chapter meeting. The meeting was held after school in the agriculture classroom in the high school and was Halloween-themed. Members were encouraged to dress up for a costume contest and participate in the trick-or-treating booths set up by the officer team before the meeting. There were first, second, and third-place winners in the costume contest. The winners included Megan McMahon who took first place, followed by Piper Johnson in second place, and finally Savannah Pasley in third place. After the costume contest, members were released for trick-or-treating. Each officer and a few high school students had different booths set up throughout the school for the members to visit. To get candy, each student must answer an FFA-related question. Not only did members get to learn a little more about the FFA organization, but they also had lots of fun!