FFA Activities for 12/21 Cancelled

All FFA activities, including Greenhand Day and the Fish and Wildlife Contest have been cancelled.

12/21 Activities Update

The Greenhand Leadership Day has been cancelled.  The Fish & Wildlife contest is still moving forward.  Stay tuned...

Fish & Wildlife Contest and Greenhand Day Update

As of 6:30pm on Thursday night, the Fish & Wildlife contest and Greenhand Leadership are going on as planned.  Possible scenarios for tomorrow:

If Medford and Owatonna are on time (we are travelling together), we are still planning on on leaving at 7:30am and attending Greenhand Leadership Day as previously planned.

If Medford is 2 hours late, we will be leaving at 9:30am.  The Fish & Wildlife teams will still compete but the Greenhand Leadership Day will be cancelled and those planning on going to the Greenhand Day should come to school as usual.

If Medford, Owatonna or other school in Region 7 (Blooming Prairie, Albert Lea, Alden Conger, Glenville, USC and Blue Earth included) is cancelled, then the contest and the Greenhand Day are cancelled.  If Medford is cancelled... enjoy the break, if another school in the region is cancelled, then you have to come to school as usual.

Ag Olympics Fun

Medford FFA was proudly represented on Saturday at the 1st annual Ag Olympics at Farmamerica.  The team competed in everything from butter carving to chicken herding to bale tossing and finished in 5th place. Lots of fun and a beautiful day!

In other news...

Congratulations to the Poultry team for finishing 1st in the region and advancing to state!

Fruit Sales are due on Tuesday at the latest.  We need to have time to tally and place our order on Wednesday.

I have updated the events calender and added the results from this years contests on the very bottom of the blog.

Ag Olympics Bus

The Ag Olympics bus will leave at 8:00 am on Saturday from the shop.  We plan on returning by 2:30.

Fruit Sales Kick-Off!

We kicked off fruit sales in school today.  Sales will run from Nov. 1st to Nov. 12th with fruit delivery on December 10th.  Click on the links below to download the sales materials.  Contact us if you have any questions.

Sales Brochure

Order Form

Butter Braid Picture

Snack Item Picture

Incentives

Good Luck Selling!

National Convention a Success!

The Medford FFA had another valuable learning experience this year at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis.  This year we sent two delegations.  Eight members traveled with the region bus and attended the general sessions and the largest career and college fair in the country.  They learned about many new and exciting career and college choices in agriculture.

We also sent four members to compete in the first ever Veterinary Science Contest.  Deanna, Brandon, Isabella, and Lauren spent two days competing against the top 80 vet science teams in the country.  The competition included a written test, written scenario, clinical practicums, restraint practicums and a team activity.  The team performed well and finished 12th, receiving a gold rating!  Individually Lauren placed 14th, Isabella placed 30th, Brandon placed 42nd and Deanna placed 64th out of over 300 participants!  Everyone received an individual gold rating and certainly represented Medford well on the national stage.

SAE Grants & Free Jacket Application

September is coming to a close and that means we have a few FFA events approaching.  Next week, we have the General Livestock, Diary Judging and Horse Judging contests at the University of Minnesota Fall invitational.

There are a few opportunities available for FFA members to take advantage of.  The first is the Blue Jackets, Bright Futures program through the Minnesota FFA Foundation.  Click on the link and compete the application to apply for a free FFA jacket through the Minnesota FFA Foundation.

The National FFA Organization has also announced their 2012 SAE Grant program.  This is a great program for anyone looking for some money to help build their SAE projects.  This money comes in the form of a grant, so it does not have to be repaid.  While this is a national program, 3 students from our chapter have been awarded grants over the past five years so we encourage everyone to apply.

Welcome Back!

We hope you had a great summer but fall is approaching and it is time to return to school.

A couple of things:
If you are interested in attending National Convention, we need your commitment and $150.00 deposit by Friday of this week (9/7).
We will be having a Summer Ag meeting on Thursday morning at 7:45 to discuss progress and what is needed to fulfill requirements.
We will have an officer meeting on Friday morning at 7:45 in the Ag Classroom.

Our first meeting will be on Monday, September 17th at 5:30 pm in the Ag Classroom.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

August Happenings - 2012-2013 Calendar Posted

August is here and we will be back in school before we know it.  Remember to keep up your summer ag records and to take lots of pictures of you in action.  We have a busy end to the summer - lots of opportunities!

I have posted a tentative 2012-2013 calendar here.  Please note that times and dates are subject to change. We are planning on moving meetings to the evenings - something that will be discussed with the officers tonight.

August 6th at 6:30pm: Officer meeting to discuss the calendar for the upcoming year, goals, and officer duties for the year

August 13-14: World Food Prize Work Sessions @ 6:30 pm
August 16: Steele County Fair Malt Stand (11-2 & 2-5)
August 17: World Food Prize Papers Due
August 20: State Fair Landscape Workshop 9:00 am
August 21: State Fair Trip for Landscape & Projects
Aug. 23 – Sep 3: State Fair
September 4: Welcome Back to School!
September 7: National Convention Decision
September 15: Region Trapshoot
September 17: FFA Meeting
September 22: World Food Prize Youth Institute

Please call or email with questions!

FFA Day at the Twins

Remember to be ready to head up to the Twins game on Sunday.  The bus will leave from the school at 9:30.  We get to walk the field at 11:45 and the game starts at 1:10.  Be sure to eat a big breakfast or bring money to eat at the game.

Vet Science Team Materials

Here are some bank PowerPoints to work on for Nationals

Animal ID

Parasite ID

Equipment ID

Rules

World Food Prize Paper Information - Week of June 25th

For everyone working on on the World Food Prize paper - I have some resources for you.  First, keep in mind that the purpose of the paper is to focus on the people in the margins of society in your country.  What is food security and life like for the poor and small farmers?  Describe what their life is like and then how does your focus factor affect their lives?  An example paper outline can be found here.  Simple write about each of the bullet points and that should give you the length and format you need.  A list of the countries and factors can be found here.  A list of resources can be found here.  A short summary of how to format your paper can be found here.  We have some work times set up at the school here, check the calendar on the side of the paper.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

In other news...

There are a number of summer visits planned this week.  If you haven't scheduled a summer visit with Mr. Ovrebo or Mr. Larson, be sure to get one scheduled soon.

We are having a small animals practice on Thursday for our team members that qualified for nationals and if anyone else is interested in learning more about a career in veterinary medicine or veterinary technology.

Get ready to cheer on the Twins at the FFA Day at Target Field on July 15th.  We are going to be able to walk the field at 11:45 this year before the 1:10 game start.  We are tentatively planning on leaving the high school at 10:00.

Get Ready for Greenhand Camp!

Greenhand camp is coming up.  We will be traveling up with the Blooming Prairie Chapter.  Click here for the paperwork that needs to be completed and a packing list.

Cashwise Food Stand

Remember that we have the Cashwise Food Stand on Wednesday (6/13) and Thursday (6/14) of this week.  There are four shifts from 10:15am to 6:30pm each day.  If you forgot what you signed up for be sure to call us.

Summer Ag Information

The time for summer ag is here.  We had a meeting during lunch today to hand out materials.  If you missed the meeting, the schedule packet is here and the record book is here.  We need help at the Cashwise food stand on Wednesday of next week, so please let us know if you can work a shift in the stand or at the grill!

Remember to Register for an Ag Class!

Registration is tomorrow and we want to remind everyone that they need to register for an ag class in order to be in FFA next year.  If you can't fit one in to your class schedule, you need to sign up for summer ag.  See Mr. Ovrebo or Mr. Larson for more details.

Congratulations to Senior Scholarship Winners

Congratulations to the following seniors who were awarded a scholarship at this afternoon's award program:
Isabella Archibald
Megan Klapperich
Chris Reiter
Sam Lester
Nicole Weist
Dan Larson
Lauren Larson
Alyssa Lique
Brian Lafky

Good luck next year!

CDE and Award Information

The Small Animals and Forestry contest will be held on Friday, 1/27.  The bus will leave from the shop at 8:00.  Bring lunch money.  We should be back by early afternoon.

Proficiency and State Degrees need to be done ASAP.  We want to start printing them on Monday, 1/30!

Just a reminder that the semester ends tomorrow and we start an new group of exciting classes on Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Week of January 16th Happenings

January is a very busy month and there is plenty to do.

There is an FFA meeting on Monday, January 16th at 6:00pm.  This is our pizza meeting.  Everyone that sold $200 in fruit gets a half pizza for free.  Everyone else can buy a half pizza for $5.00.  The pizza order is going in on Monday at noon so you need to talk to Mr. Ovrebo ASAP to make sure you reserve your half pizza.

Practices this week:
Tuesday after school: Small Animals
Thursday before school: Small Animals
Thursday after school: Proficiency and Degree Work time

There has been a date change for the Meats, Small Animals and Forestry contest.  There has been a conflict at the contest site so it was moved from Thursday to Friday the 27th.

Remember - Local FFA scholarships are due this Friday (1/20), Proficiencies and State Degrees are due ASAP so corrections can be made.

Have a great week!

January 16th FFA Meeting

Just a reminder that there is an FFA meeting on Monday, January 16th at 6:00pm.  Everyone that sold fruit gets half a pizza - so remember to let us know what to order for you.

Remember to keep working on the State Degree and Proficiency Applications, they are due in their final draft by January 31st!

Week of January 2nd Happenings

As we begin the new year, we have the calendar filled with lots of FFA activities.

Monday, 1/2 - 9:00am Classroom room open to work on proficiencies and state degrees
Thursday, 1/5 - 7:15am Small Animals practice in the classroom
Thursday, 1/5 - 3:05pm Classroom open to work on proficiencies and state degrees
Friday, 1/6 - State Food Science contest at MSU - Mankato

Proficiencies and State Degrees have become a priority with final drafts dues at the end of the month.  We would like to have rough drafts in our hand by the end of the week to start making revisions.