98th Annual Pennsylvania Farm Show--CV FFA Builds the Future!

Along with students showing animals during the jam-packed schedule at the Farm Show, CV FFA members were also garnering awards for their dedication and hard work during the school year.

The highlight of the Farm Show for many FFA members is the annual Pennsylvania FFA Mid-Winter Convention where the prestigious Keystone Degree is awarded to deserving seniors.  To qualify for the degree, a student must have completed at least 2 years of Agriculture Education classes, earned or productively invested $1,000 in their Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE), or work 300 hours in excess of class time.  This year, 8 CV FFA seniors earned their Keystone Degree with 351 other students from across the Commonwealth.

The 8 Keystone Degree recipients pose with other chapter members attending the Mid-Winter Convention.  Holding their Keystone Degrees (L to R) are K. Paulus, J. Griffin, M. Slike, A. Emig, L. Shatto, S. Christie, and J. Karns. Missing from photo is T. Yount.

CV FFA also had 5 students compete in the FFA Agriscience Fair with their research projects.  Students that have an interest in conducting research to supplement their current Agriculture coursework are encouraged to choose a topic and design a plan to test their hypothesis.  Students then conduct their experient, create a tri-fold display board, and present their results to judges at the event.  Projects receiving 1st place in their respective category have the opportunity to qualify for competition at the 2014 National FFA Agriscience Fair in Louisville, KY.  Here are a listing of the projects that competed in the 2014 PA FFA Agriscience Fair:

• Feast or Famine: Investigating the Diet of Red-Eared Sliders (E. Goodhart and A. Klinger)
• What is Happening to the Ogallala Aquifer? (T. Yount)
• Bovines, Biohazards, and Biological Impacts: How Do They Intertwine? (A. Pauletta) **2nd place
• Equine Ethics (P. Smith) **1st place

P. Smith presenting her project to a judge.  She received 1st place for her "Equine Ethics" survey project and will be applying to compete at the 2014 National FFA Agriscience Fair in Louisville, KY.

A. Pauletta poses with her project "Bovines, Biohazards, and Biological Impacts." Pauletta placed 2nd in the Environmental Systems division and will be competing at 2 other science fairs this spring with her project.

T. Yount patiently awaits to present her project "What is Happening to the Ogallala Aquifer?" to a panel of judges.  She spurred an interest to further investigate this disappearing resource after competing in the Agriculture Issues Forum CDE at the 2013 National FFA Convention.

In addition, 8 first-year FFA members received their very own blue corduroy jacket as part of the Pennsylvania FFA Alumni's First Year Member Jacket Scholarship program.  To qualify, each student submitted an application that asked them what they hoped to achieve in FFA and what an FFA jacket means to them.

Jacket Recipients pose after zipping up their jackets for the very first time! (L to R)-P. Smith, A. Pauletta, J. Robinson, M. McGee, C. Noss, and A. Klinger.

K. McCarty also received
her FFA Jacket.

K. O'Connor poses with her
mom after receiving her
jacket.

Finally, CV FFA senior A. Hamilton spearheaded the creation of a 5-7 minute video to participate in the Agriculture Career Connections contest.  She completed interviews with a park ranger within the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to learn about the opportunities in Environmental Education.  The videos were posted online at the Lancaster Farming website and each participating chapter presented a 20-minute informational session about career opporunities they learned about during the creation of the video. Hamilton poses below with the check presented to the chapter on behalf of Lancaster Farming.