Lamoni FFA Celebrates a Year of Several Achievements!
The Lamoni FFA Chapter just held their annual Chapter Banquet, on April 5th, 2021, to congratulate and mention all the member’s accomplishments this past year. The 2021 Conduct of Meetings team opened with Official Opening Ceremonies, that team consisted of Hailey Burton as President, Emma Shields as Vice President, Kenzi Hamaker as Sentinel, Addy Lindgen as Reporter, Kameryn Phelps as Secretary, Brenna Pierce as the Treasurer, and Kelly Lloyd as the Advisor.
The Greenhand Degree was the first award handed out. The Greenhand Degree is given to first year FFA members who have shown that they have learned the basic knowledge of the FFA, and have presented the FFA Creed. This year Kelly Lloyd, Jaymie Tull, Creyton Ogier, David Moreno, Emaleigh Pierschbacher, and Cody Jones received the award. Out of all of those Greenhands, a select few are chosen to be the Star Greenhand, which means they showed outstanding leadership and participation in the chapter this year. The two Star Greenhands for 2020/21 are Kelly Lloyd and Emaleigh Pierschbacher.
The next degree an FFA member can achieve is the Chapter Degree. The Chapter Degree is for members who are active members in our chapter and have a productive SAE project. We would like to congratulate Kameryn Phelps, Hailey Burton, Kenzi Hamaker, Dawson Hensley, Janessa Hutchison, Addyson Lindgren, Austin Long, Heiatua Paredes, Bryson Pierce, Paige Salmi, Emma Shields, Austin Stevenson for earning their FFA Chapter Degrees. Just like Star Greenhand, there is a Star Chapter Farmer who have been involved in the chapter extensively and have a strong SAE, our 2020/21 Star Chapter Farmer is Javin Stevenson.
We have opened up our chapter to not just high school students but middle school students as well! 7th and 8th grade students are getting their FFA Discovery Degree, which shows that they have started their journey as an FFA member. Ambrose Savage, Presley Vanderflught, Bud Boyce, Peyton Davis, Tariq Miller, Ryan Reed, Taylor Henson, Kirra Edwards, Emma Hill, Landon Lindgren, Cooper Horton, Karsyn Cray, Jonathon Stevenson, Kelan Stevenson, Brady Lester, Lynn Eakes, Karlee Hamaker, and Wyatt Kerns are all receiving their FFA Discovery Degree.
The Iowa FFA Degree was presented to senior Bode Dykens. The Iowa FFA Degree is a degree to congratulate members on their hard work throughout their years of FFA. This is the highest individual honor bestowed on a member by the State FFA Association. Bode will receive his Iowa FFA Degree at State Convention for his SAE in Bison production.
Every year BTC Bank pairs with our FFA chapter to award a hardworking sophomore with a $100.00 scholarship for them to put towards their Supervised Agriculture Experience project. This year Hailey Burton received the award presented by Kevin Lloyd. This year is the first year a Lamoni FFA member was presented with the Commercial Heifer
Award. This award is donated by Galen and Patty Jimmerson, who came to present the award to Creyton Ogier. Creyton, as part of the award will be showing this heifer at the Decatur County Fair in July.
Next item on the agenda was presenting the Career Development Event (CDE) and Leadership Development Event (LDE) awards. Last September, we had members participate in the Soil Evaluation CDE held in Osceola, Iowa. The Soil Evaluation team of Cody Jones, Kelly Lloyd, Emaleigh Pierschbacher, and Creyton Ogier placed with a bronze. At the 2021 LDE Sub-District level, Hailey Burton, Dawson Hensley, Emma Shields, Kenzie Hamaker, Kelly Lloyd, Addy Lindgren and Kameryn Phelps participated in Conduct of Meetings receiving a silver. Heiatua Parades received a gold advance to districts in the FFA Prepared Public Speaking with her speech on Nature’s Wonders. Emaleigh Pierschbacher received a silver, alternate to districts for FFA Creed Speaking. All FFA members participated in the FFA Chapter Knowledge Quiz and the FFA Greenhand Quiz. At LDE District level, Chloe Boyce, Brenna Pierce, Jaymie Tull, Hailey Burton, and Emma Shields received participation for the FFA Chapter Scrapbook. Heiatua Parades received a gold advance to state in the FFA Prepared Public Speaking.
The Academic Achievement Award, which is one of the highest individual award, which was given to Chloe Boyce, Brenna Pierce, Bode Dykens, and Ryean Phelps. Every year the Lamoni FFA Chapter sells fruit, we always like to recognize the top three sellers who have sold the most fruit and raised the most money. This year, our third place seller was
Hailey Burton selling over $1800, our second was Austin Stevenson selling over $2500, and the
top seller, selling $2540 of fruit, is Javin Stevenson.
The Honorary Chapter Degree goes to the person or persons who have helped out our FFA chapter in many ways over the past year. This year we presented the award to Stevenson Farms- Kris and Leanna Stevenson, they have sponsored our FFA shirts for the past three years. We rely on the support of the community, friends, and family to keep our FFA chapter strong.
We wanted to recognize some of our biggest supporters; BTC Bank, Beth Elliott, Pizza Hut- every year Beth and her staff support and help with the chapter’s Angel Tree Fundraiser, Stevenson Farms- Kris and Leanna, Robin Creek Farms, Hamaker Farms- Dave and Carrie- all of these family businesses helped sponsor the annual FFA t-shirt this year, so that every member could have a shirt. Hamaker Farms also selected the Lamoni FFA Chapter to receive the America’s Farmers Grow Communities Award, this award donates $2500 to the chapter to use for projects.
We are presenting Brenna Pierce with the Outstanding Senior Award for all of her hard work and dedication throughout her high school years in the FFA chapter. Also, for seniors the Lamoni FFA Chapter gives out a $200 scholarship to a student who is attending a 2-4 year college, majoring in an agriculture field. This year the scholarship is presented to Ryean Phelps.
Lastly, we have the installations of new officers for the 2021/22 year. Voted Sentinel was Kelly Lloyd, Reporters are Emma Shields and Heiatua Paredes, our new Treasurer is Janessa Hutchison, our Secretary is Ashleigh Gerke, Emaleigh Pierschbacher as our Student Advisor, Vice President is Hailey Burton, and finally our new 2021/22 President, Javin Stevenson!
Congratulations to all the Lamoni FFA members and a huge Thank You to the community for all of your support this year!