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.