(Article by Atlantic FFA Reporter  Aspen Niklasen) – Each year, the Southwest District and Iowa FFA officers plan and facilitate Greenhand Fire Up Conferences for FFA members in the Southwest District. The workshops were leadership focused with an emphasis on the experiences that occur in the lives of beginning high school students These workshops are geared toward engaging members into FFA as the year kicks up. Atlantic welcomed 29 FFA chapters and 247 from all over the Southwest District on Wednesday, October 13th.

Atlantic FFA member Dylan Comes and Atlantic FFA Alumni member Tyler Comes helped facilitate the event. Dylan, the Southwest State Treasurer for the Iowa FFA Association, helped with other officers prepare and facilitated workshops of: authenticity, balancing priorities, communication, and FFA opportunities – in order to provide the first-year FFA members with skills they would use both within and outside of FFA. Comes said “It was great to see all of the younger members interacting with each other from a facilitators point of view.”

Front Row left to right: Mackenzie Brown, Charli Goff, Rylie Vandevanter, Aubrey Graham, Claire Schoder, Lilly Johnson, Mia, Kloewer, Lola Comes
Back Row left to right
Hudson Goff, DJ Shepperd, Daniel Freund, Parker Brock, Jace Mcintryre, Wyatt Simons, Keegan Kemp, Josie Handlos. (Photo submitted)

The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. The goal was to engage FFA members in learning about the tools that would allow them to be successful in anything they are part of through high school and beyond. Rylie Vandvanter, a member from the Atlantic chapter that attended the event, said that “I had a lot of fun and met several new people.” Lola Comes said, “The Greenhand Fireup Camp gave me the opportunity to meet new people from other chapters, learn leadership skills, and increase my knowledge about FFA. This camp helped push me out of my comfort zone.”

(Atlantic FFA News) –  Atlantic FFA member Bryan York presented a paper virtually to the Global Youth Institute on Tuesday, October 18th. York’s paper was on sustainable Agriculture in Tanzania and provided several options to help solve this issue that affects 60 million Tanzanians every year. Bryan’s solutions included additional education for school-age students with an emphasis on soil health practices instead of repetitive usage of chemicals.

York said, “I enjoyed connecting with other students and experts from around the world. I thought it was interesting hearing how similar our solutions were, and how we could build off of one another. In addition to this experience, Bryan earned 2 scholarships for Iowa State University. The first was for $1,000 for participating in the Iowa Youth Institute in April and the second was for $2,500 for participating in the Global Youth Institute this week.

Bryan York

Bryan had 7 other students in her roundtable discussion from 4 different states and 1 student from Canada. Each of these individuals provided a presentation on various other issues ranging from corrupt governments, weather patterns, climatology, conflict, and renewable energy.

Not only did Bryan present to a group of students, but he also spoke to and was given feedback from 3 disgusted experts in a variety of different fields. Nicollette Caste, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, Emma Casavecchia, a program manager with the World Food Prize, and Hailey Hampton a researcher on Plant Sciences at the University of Idaho.

York was also able to listen to many world leaders and hunger fighters talk about the problems they are facing and how these issues need to be addressed. Some of these individuals include: Jeffrey Giauque, U.S. Department of State, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Tom Vilsack, the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and Jocelyn Brown Hall, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

ABOUT THE WORLD FOOD PRIZE: The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. The Prize was founded in 1986 by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize. Since then, the World Food Prize has honored 50 outstanding individuals who have made vital contributions throughout the world. The World Food Prize annually hosts the Borlaug Dialogue international symposium and a variety of youth education programs to help further the discussion on cutting-edge global food security issues and inspire the next generation to end hunger.

(Article courtesy Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

INDIANAPOLIS (National FFA Organization) – Each year, the National FFA Organization honors FFA members who show the utmost dedication to the organization through their desire to develop their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

The American FFA Degree is bestowed upon a select group of students in recognition of their years of academic and professional excellence. This year 3,863 American Degrees were be awarded. Tate Den Beste, a member of the Atlantic FFA chapter was awarded the American FFA Degree at the 94th National FFA Convention & Expo Oct. 27-30. Den Beste said, “It was an honor to be able to walk across stage and receive this award. It is something that I will remember and I am very grateful for everyone who helped me along the way”.

Tate D. American Degree

To be eligible, FFA members must have earned and productively invested $10,000 through a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program in which they own their own business or hold a professional position as an employee. Recipients must also complete 50 hours community service and demonstrate outstanding leadership abilities and civic involvement through completion of a long list of FFA and community activities. Less than one percent of FFA members achieve the American FFA Degree.

Tate began with 2 SAE Projects that included working at Atlantic Golf and Country Club to pick up range balls and Sunny Side Putt Um Up where Tate would work the counter and helping to manage the goat herd. As Tate progressed through high school he began to work at Gavin Lynn Farms where he would manage and feed the cattle herd, as well as help with harvest.

Mr Eric Miller, the Atlantic FFA Advisor said, “Tate might have grown more than any student I have ever had. To begin as a shy freshman in the back of the classroom to running for District and State FFA Office and then reaching the highest award an FFA member can achieve. Tate has shown all of our FFA members that anything is possible and they should reach for the stars”.

Each recipient of the American FFA Degree receives a gold American FFA Degree key and certificate after being recognized at the national convention. The National FFA Organization is a school-based national youth leadership development organization of more than 760,000 student members as part of 8,700 local FFA chapters in all 50 states Puerto Rico.

(Article submitted by Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)

(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – The Atlantic FFA chapter competed in the Southwest Iowa District Soils Judging Contest at the Armstrong Research Farm in Lewis on Monday September 27th. Atlantic FFA had 7 individuals compete in 2 teams. Team 1 which consisted of Bryan York, Cooper Jipsen, DJ Shepperd and Malena Woodward, got 6th place overall and earned a gold rating and were selected as the Alternate for the Iowa FFA State Soils CDE. There were 139 FFA members from 25 schools at the Contest. Bryan York placed 24th, Malena Woodward 26th,DJ Shepperd 30th and Cooper Jipsen placed 44th overall. “I met a lot of new people and learned alot about competing and soils judging,” said team member DJ Shepperd.

Team 2 placed 12th with team members Charli Goff placing 31st, Daniel Freund placing 49th and Brett Dreager placing 79th. Brett Dreager said, “Soils judging was a lot of fun. I learned it is more than just looking at dirt. There are a lot of factors that go into soil quality.“

Team members from left to right are:
Charli Goff, Malena Woodward, Bryan York, Cooper Jipsen, DJ Shepperd, Brett Dreager, Daniel Freund.

The Soils Judging Career Development Event is designed towards motivating students to gain knowledge on surface features, the soil profile, land capability and productivity, evaluation of land use and management practices, and suitability of soils for nonagricultural uses. Students also develop the ability to observe selected soil properties, and use these observations to interpret and evaluate these properties for recommendations for land use. Bryan York said, “With the information I learned by participating in this contest, I was able to make new connections to the soil health measures I was using inside my garden. I would recommend this contest to any new members who are looking to get involved or anyone interested in learning more about how the quality of soil affects your crops.”

After the contest took place, Mr. Miller, the Atlantic FFA advisor, felt good about the day’s competition. “I was impressed with the way our students performed. They made a lot of improvement in a very short amount of time.”