816-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 22,2001 Twin Valley FFA Chapter And Members Receive Awards At National Convention ELVERSON (Chester Co.) At the recent national FFA con vention, Twin Valley chapter members and the chapter itself garnered awards. Sophomore Ashley Austin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Austin of Elverson, won a bronze medal in the national FFA creed speaking contest in competition with 46 others speakers. Creed speakers had to recite the creed before a panel of judges and an audience. The judges then asked each competitor the same three questions. Speakers were judged on their speaking ability as well as their ability to answer the questions. The Twin Valley chapter re ceived a three star award. 103 three star awards were presented from among the 7500+ FFA chapters in the United States. Chapter awards are based on a chapter’s ability to involve mem bers in a variety of activities in the three areas of student devel opment, chapter development and community development. Chapters must document their activities as well as the planning for activities - goals, time lines, procedures, benefits to members and the chapter and community, educational value, etc. With 266 chapter members in the 2000-01 school year, planning and conducting numerous activi ties was a challenge for chapter officers and advisors. Major activities .highlighted by the Twin Valley chapter applica tion included: chapter participa tion in state and national activi ties, recreational activities for members, record book competi tions, chapter fund raisers - espe cially the bulb and citrus sales, chapter officer retreats, all night leadership conference with 99 members in attendance, educa tional programs for all third grade students in our district, in volvement at the Hay Creek Fall and Apple festivals, and a canned food drive where over 2700 cans of food were collected. Other activities included edu cational trips to Longwood Gar dens, involvement with the Penn sylvania Game Commission, chapter cookouts, baking for shelters, the chapter awards ban quet, the agriculture day break fast, Christmas tree recycling, working on the district environ mental education area and third grade educational day at the ag riculture department. The Twin Valley environ mental and natural resources team represented Pennsylvania in this relatively new national competition. Team members demonstrated individual skills by viewing a short video on an environmental concept and then writing a news article, answering questions from a panel of judges on the environ mental concept covered in the video, performing soil tests and recommending fertilizers to be applied to produce a crop, judging a soil profile, performing water tests, evaluating a wildlife habitat by identifying all species present and then constructing a food web for the site and making recommendations to improve the site. Team members also toured a publishing plant and made rec ommendations on ways to reduce waste from the plant. They were required to identify a wide vari ety of animal, plants, fish, birds, equipment, induced species, etc. Each team member also took a general knowledge test on envi ronmental principals. Twin Valley FFA members who helped their chapter win a three star chapter award at the National FFA Conven tion arc, from left: Jed Batchelder, Amanda Peterson, Jennifer Kortze, Vince Hartman, Robert Klinger. Twin Valley sophomore Ashley Austin (center) with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Austin, Elverson, is congratu lated for winning the bronze award for placing third among 47 contestants in the national FFA credd speaking contest. Members of the Twin Valley FFA natural resources and environmental team who place second in national compe tition are, from left: Desiree Brungard, Danaan Stoltzfus, Danielle D’Angelo, Joshua Risbon, and Ron Frederick, chapter advisor. Working as a team they were given a environmental situation. The team had one hour to decide how they would handle the prob lem (soil compaction this year) and prepare a presentation, in cluding posters and graphics, for a panel of judges. They then had to give their presentation to the judges. This exceptionally challenging event involved over Id hours of practicums and tests over a two day period. In individual placings. Josh Risbon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Steve Binins of Brandamore placed fourth; Danaan Stoltzfus, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. An drew Stoltzfus of Honey Brook, placed eleventh; Danielle D’An gelo, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Roush of Birdsboro, placed fourteenth; and Desiree Brungard, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Brungard of Elver son, placed eighteenth. All four members of the team received gold medals. Josh re ceived a $6OO scholarship and Danaan a $5OO scholarship. The team placed second against teams from 33 other states. All team members are seniors and very active members of the Twin Valley chapter. Three graduate members of the chapter received the Ameri can FFA degree. Kelly Andrews, Julie Peterson and Jamie Powell join a growing list of chapter members who have achieved this award. Kelly, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Andrews of Plowville, is an environmental education major at Penn State University. Julie, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Peterson of Honey Brook, is an engineering student at Penn State University. Jamie, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Scaramuzzino of Honey Brook, is employed by the U.S. Post Office. A group of }6 chapter mem bers traveled to the national FFA convention in Louisville with chapter advisor Ron Frederick and Mrs. Frederick as well as Mr. and Mrs. Austin. Other Twin Valley members attending the convention were: Jed Batcheider, Vince Hartman, Robert Klinger, Jen Kortze, Amanda Peterson, Adam Lat shaw, James Love, Melissa Cof fey, Becky Peterson, Jason Sher mer and Cate Tapp. >. West Snyder FFA >■ ] SUN Degrees; Kennard-Dale IJSsS" Apple Judging SUN Area FFA Degree winners from West Snyder FFA include, seated, left to right, Phaedra Wray, Lance Her man, Victoria Adams, Derek Fetterolf, Hannah Staler. Standing, left to right, Tiffany Esbenshade, Doug Hollen bach, Andrew Kreamer, Jenna Briggs, and Daphne Wag ner. 10 West Snyder FFA Members Earn SUN Degrees Ten West Snyder FFA mem bers received the SUN Area FFA Degrees at the SUN area fall meeting recently at Selinsgrove High School. The West Snyder FFA mem bers who earned their degrees were Victoria Adams, Jenna Briggs, Tiffany Esbenshade, Hannah Etzler, Derek Fetterolf, Lance Herman, Doug Hollen bach, Andrew Kreamer, Daphne Wagner, and Phaedra Wray. In order to receive the SUN Area FFA Degree, members must have completed two years of agri cultural education courses, earned or invested at least $5OO or worked at least 300 hours in a Supervised Agricultural Experi ence (SAE) project. Members must also have been in two pro grams presented to the public and represented the chapter above the area level in an FFA event. Hannah Etzler, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Etzler of Beavertown, was named as the SUN Area Star Farmer. This award is given to those students who have shown premier leader ship and an outstanding super vised occupational experi ence program. Etzler is a vice president in the West Snyder FFA Chapter. Her SAE projects include sheep finishing, sheep breeding, swine finishing, and beef finishing. She earned a gold medal in the State FFA Record Keeping event and represented West Snyder FFA at the Wash ington Leadership Conference. Her future plans include a four year degree in Animal Science. Rebecca Butt, left, and Barbara Richardson, right, Ken nard-Dale FFA members, compete in apple judging con test. Hannah Etzler, West Snyder FFA vice president of student development, was recently named the SUN Area FFA Star Farmer at the SUN area fall meet ing. FFA Members Excel In Apple Judging Kennard-Dale FFA members met a challenge as they competed in the only Apple Judging career development event (contest) in the State of Pennsylvania. Held in Adams County, the apple capital, Nov. 7, the event consisted of identifying apple va rieties, disease and insect dam age, and judging two classes of apples. Hie event was originated be cause the Biglerville FFA chapter felt that this important Pennsyl vania product should be a focus for students. Students gain a broad sense of knowledge on the apple industry through this com petition. Barbara Richardson and Re becca Butt, of the Kennard-Dale FFA chapter spent many hours learning the varieties of apples and researching common apple insect and disease damage. They also investigated how apples would be scored in a judging event. In competition with over 40 other FFA members, Richardson earned first place in the event and Butt 21st.
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