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.