Blanchester-Great Oaks FFA Chapter received many awards at the 94th Ohio FFA State Convention May 4-6 as 22 members attended this exciting three-day trip.
Members attended tours at three agricultural-related facilities — SugarCreek, Select Sires, and Eby Trailers.
At SugarCreek, we started out by learning how the office operates. Then, we viewed how the meat was packaged, flavored, and cooked, and we also saw how they make bacon bits. At the end of this tour, we tasted the product and even got to take home a large bag of bacon bits.
Next, we toured Select Sires and learned all about how their breeding industry started and how it operates. They also informed us about summer jobs we could take part in. We viewed first-hand some of their top bulls being paraded around their arena.
Our last tour was Eby Trailers, where we learned how they got started and they walked us through the process of making/fabricating an Eby trailer.
On Thursday and Friday, May 5-6, our chapter mingled and explored the expo’s shopping center and displays. We enjoyed talking to various colleges, attending conferences and purchasing products from vendors.
Our chapter attended all of the sessions put on by the Ohio State Officer Team, where our chapter received numerous awards including:
• One of our advisors, Eric Heeg, received an award for being in the top 10 for the Golden Owl Award.
• Jacob Lansing received a State Winning Agricultural Mechanics Repair and Maintenance Proficiency Award.
• Receiving an award for Gold-rated books were: Secretary’s Book — Gracie Keahler; Treasurer’s Book — Annalee Miller-Steffen; and Reporter’s Book — Shelbie Panetta.
• Our chapter received a Gold Medal Chapter award, as well as a Top Ten Growing Leaders award.
• We were the Overall Winner of the Building Communities Division and a Top Ten Overall Chapter.
This year, our Middle School Equine Management CDE team of Olivia Hatter, Jenna Pelosi, Haley Sawyer and Abbi Scott was very successful, winning a 1st overall MS Equine Management award. Olivia Hatter won 1st overall MS Equine Management individual.
Seniors Jacob Lansing and Rianna Mueller received the state-winning Agriscience Fair project in their division.
Senior Autum Medley received her State FFA Degree. Carolyn Koch participated in the State FFA Choir.
All of our members who received awards and/or were recognized worked extremely hard all year to be able to receive these awards. Our chapter as a whole has worked together and persevered to earn these awards.
Our advisors, Eric Heeg and Matt Younker, have been a big part of our success this year, and we thank them for all of the hard work and hours they have put into our chapter.
During our trip, we met many other outstanding chapters and individuals. We enjoyed listening to the talented singers and musicians, and enjoyed the words of encouragement from our keynote speakers. We were excited to meet our 2022-2023 Ohio State Officer Team.
We hope to be able to have as much success as we did this year in the years of the State FFA Convention to come.
