Garden Spot FFA members honored at Pennsylvania Farm Show

The first event of 2018 year for the Garden Spot FFA is the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Every year in January, the PA Farm Show is held at the PA Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. The exhibits range from animals to food to businesses and much more, all have the goal of promoting agriculture throughout our state. The PA Farm Show is a week full of exciting activities, education, and fun.

For our FFA members, the Farm Show is an exciting trip that we take every year. Students had the opportunity to spend a day at Farm Show on Friday. In order to go on the trip, each member had to sell a minimum of 20 cases of fruit during our fruit sale. Members got to spend to day walking around the Farm Show and learning about other forms of agriculture outside the classroom. Jr. FFA members were also invited to attend. They had to recited the one paragraph of the FFA Creed. Some of the highlights of the trip were watching tractor square dancing, sampling foods, and hanging out with friends.

Four of our chapter members attended the PA FFA State Association Mid - Winter Convention at Farm Show on Monday, January 8th. Carter Meck and Brayden Emmerling were awarded with their FFA jacket. They were among a selected group of members who a wrote several short essays to apply for the free jacket. Being awarded with the free jacket at Mid - Winter Convention allows first year members to put on their jacket for the first time with hundreds of other first year members. As each new member puts on the blue corduroy jacket a sea of white turns to blue.

Also at Mid-Winter Convention, Megan Mellinger and Kyle Spotts were awarded their Keystone Degree. The Keystone Degree is the second highest award an FFA member can recieve, next to the American Degree. To be eligible for the Keystone Degree each member must have been a FFA member for the past 24 months and be senior or graduate of high school. They are required to complete 2 years of ag classes and invested 300 hours or $1000 in SAEs. They must participate in 10 chapter activities and 5 activities above the chapter level. They need 25 hours of community service and complete SAE projects. Megan and Kyle were among a selected few who qualified for this award. 

Jess Herr and Mikayla Miller were awarded with scholarships to attend the Washington Leadership Conference. This conference in Washington D.C. is held by National FFA to promote leadership and service. Congratulations Megan, Kyle, Brayden, Carter, Jess and Mikayla!

Also at Farm Show this week, Leah Welk made our chapter proud with her showing skills. Leah showed her market lambs and goats. She brought home first, second, and third place awards. Congratulations Leah!

--By By Danae Ranck, FFA reporter



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