May 2016 by Texas Ag Ed

NEWS A Texas Team Ag Ed Publication

May 2016

Are You Making The Most Of Your Chances? Ray Pieniazek, East Central

This time of year we are in the middle of degree checks, banquets and planning summer activities. I sincerely hope you have taken every chance to encourage your students to participate in every event they could this past spring. However, there is still one more opportunity you can encourage your students to take. Agriscience Fair. For those of us that were around when we were teaching vocational agriculture classes, it was a tough change to convert to agriscience. Now that we are agriscience and technology, we have to encourage our students to be a part of the science world. There are many chapters in our state who are acutely involved in this particular part of our program; you should be too. The Agriscience Fair is something that we should all promote. Our world is ever changing and there are many things that our students could be researching related to our agriscience world. Encourage your students to step out of the norm. They can take their project to four or more science fairs around the state and nation. They have several chances at scholarships; through both the state FFA science fair and the three different science fairs at stock shows throughout the year. Maybe you have the next scientific mind that is going to solve a world agriculture problem.

As your banquets roll around, ask yourself if you have properly honored those exceptional individuals in your community? Sometimes we tend to forget that there are people who have been consistently supporting our endeavors and we need to recognize them. They are the ones who make things happen in our programs and they need recognition for their efforts. Don’t forget to recognize those counselors, secretaries and administrators who are sometimes behind the scenes supporters. I always try to watch the faces of the honoraries as our officers present them with their awards. Last year, it was incredible to watch the reaction of two of our counselors. They continue to demonstrate unlimited support towards our students; especially our seniors. The counselor’s faces were priceless and you could tell they honestly appreciated the recognition. I know all the individuals we have recognized in the past have appreciated the recognition. Have you looked into the coming changes to our CDEs, LDEs and speaking events? Major changes are coming in many of the contests while others are just experiencing minor changes. The comment period will be open for a while longer. Make your comments if you have any so that when your representative goes to vote, your

voice can be heard. These changes have derived from fellow teachers and your voice is important to this process. Visit TexasFFA.org for more information. As I close, I hope you continue taking chances to improve your students as well as yourself. I believe a great teacher’s conference is in the works. I hope you are contributing in some way and hope you take advantage of the opportunities to prepare yourself for the upcoming year. I hope you also take the opportunity to go see your seniors at their graduation. Your presence there will probably mean the world to them. Have a great May and don’t stop taking chances.

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Why A Departmental Inventory? Barney McClure, VATAT Executive Director Usually late in the year, administration may send a request to the ag department to update the inventory. The request may come at a busy time, so a half-hearted effort is made then turned back in with the thought that it will be put in someone’s file and never seen again. In reality, an accurate inventory list is an important document that could have a direct influence on your career. It comes under the heading of things that can “prove your innocence.” Probably the two most important times to have a really accurate inventory is when you take a job and when you leave a job. However, at any point, it could rise to critical issue status. Anytime we deal with public funds, which includes FFA accounts and school budget money, the teacher is accountable. It is important to keep good records, and if something is loaned out to someone (usually some type of show equipment), you need to have a record so it can be returned. Things break, wear out, or in some cases become lost or stolen, so it is always good to have a recent record of what happened, so you will not be questioned. Items that

may show up on an inventory include textbooks, other teaching materials, shop supplies and equipment, and show equipment such as clippers and blow dryers. The teacher is responsible for keeping up with all of these, and a few hours of checking things off the inventory list could save you a lot of heartburn later on. I have heard of a few instances where no inventory is maintained. If this sounds like your ag department now is a great time to make this process a regular, yearly, part of your routine.

Are You Retiring This Year? We would like to honor members who are retiring this year. Please contact Karen@vatat.org or call (512) 472-3128.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE VATAT................................................................1 - 2 Texas FFA.....................................................4 - 5 Foundation....................................................6 Texas FFA Alumni................................................8 Young Farmers.............................................10 - 11

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5/1/15 3:18 PM

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UPDATE 2015-2016 Third Quarter Board Meeting Tom Maynard, Texas FFA Executive Director The Texas FFA Association Board of Directors convened in Austin for its third quarter board meeting Monday, April 4, 2016 and took the following actions:

Area Realignment: The board received the report of the Commission on Area Realignment and approved for submission to the chapters the bylaws amendment, contained in the commission’s recommendation one, which is the realignment plan. The board amended the proposed bylaw amendment contained in recommendation two, striking the language referencing financial hardship and student safety, and approved the remaining recommendations which were a bylaws amendment which defines a chapter’s county identity as the headquarters location of the chapter’s school district headquarters and a policy provision which creates a procedural “trigger” mechanism, creating an automatic agenda item when membership in any area subdivision reaches 18,000 or 15% of the total membership. The specific documents, related to area realignment, are bylaw amendments to be presented to the delegates to the 88th Texas FFA Convention and will be submitted to the local chapter as is required by Texas FFA Constitution, Article XVI. The board directed staff to continue to work with commission and board members to sufficient information concerning the proposals and their implications.

Association Policy Handbook Section 3.4: The board adopted staff recommendation to strike language in subsection (f) related to district-wide program affiliation. This amendment was necessary because the National FFA Organization will no longer support this part of the affiliation program.

Competitive Event Revision: The board received proposed event revisions from Student Recognition Coordinator, Tricia Sullivan. The board will take no action until its fourth quarter meeting in June. All proposed revisions will be posted for review and public comment and will be presented to each respective programmatic advisory committee before being deliberated by the board. More information regarding these revisions can be found online at TexasFFA.org. 4

Agricultural Consortium of Texas: A Memorandum of Understanding between the Texas FFA Association and the Agricultural Consortium of Texas related to the conduct of Career Development Events, which delineates specific responsibilities for each party, is being reviewed as part of the revision cycle and will be presented at the fourth quarter board meeting as an action item. The document was also presented to ACT on March 31, and will be presented again as an ACT action item in the fall.

Future Convention Sites: The board adopted the following revisions regarding future convention sites and managing housing. Future sites and their respective status are as follows: 2016, Dallas; 2017, Corpus Christi; 2018, Fort Worth; 2019, Fort Worth; 2020, Dallas; 2021, Fort Worth; 2022, Fort Worth; 2023, Dallas.

Texas Needs Texas FFA: The board approved in principle the financial support of the Texas FFA Foundation’s public relations campaign, to be included in the FY 2016-17 budget.

Student Nominating Committee: In an advice and consent vote required under Texas FFA Constitution, Article XIV, related to student committees, the board approved in its consent agenda the slate of nominating committee candidates proposed by student officers.

State Officer Selection: The board approved policy recommendations submitted by the board’s standing committee on state officer selection concerning the qualifications of student nominating committee members and the adult consultant rotation. The board approved the committee’s recommended appointment of Casey Page of North Lamar and Tammy Glascock of Pilot Point as adult consultants for the 2016 process.

Budget and Finance: The board received a report concerning the committee’s budget planning cycle for fiscal year 2016-17 and adopted

VATAT News a recommendation that the board, at its second quarter meeting, develop plans for the investment of any net cash gain in the previous budget cycle into programs and services.

Human Resources: The board received a report from the committee regarding proposed employee policy changes which will be presented at the fourth quarter board meeting.

Nominations: The board received the nomination of Natalie (Cobb) Koehler of Cranfills Gap to fill the Agriculture/Agribusiness, Place two board position being vacated by Zach Brady, pursuant to constitutional language which prohibits an elected board member from serving more than two threeyear terms. The board policy on nominations calls for nominations to be made in the third quarter meeting and elections in the fourth quarter. The board also received the nomination of Jerome Tymrak for a second three-year term. As part of its fiduciary responsibility, the board reviewed the quarterly financial reports submitted by staff. The board also received student officer reports related to progress toward the officer team goals and activities since the board last convened in January. It also received the report of the executive director and operational reports concerning membership, Day at the Capitol, awards and degree and the Texas FFA News Online. The board received reports from other leaders in Texas Team Ag Ed: Ron Whitson, Texas Education Agency, Barney McClure, VATAT and Aaron Alejandro, Texas FFA Foundation.

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10/5/15 11:18 AM

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UPDATE Social Media … Friend or Foe Aaron Alejandro, Texas FFA Foundation Executive Director Smartphones, laptops, iPods, iPads, GPS… they are not just gadgets, they’re already part of our lives. Have you noticed any of the changes we have made just within the operations of Texas Team Ag Ed, agricultural education and the Texas FFA? Here’s a few examples: 1) It wasn’t too long ago that our record books were all paper and not completed on a computer; 2) The Texas Education Agency (TEA) went paperless and began delivering information via email or digital access; 3) The Texas FFA started voting via online access at the State FFA Convention. So what’s next and is all this “tech stuff and social media stuff” friend of foe? I would say we have been given an incredible opportunity to tell the Texas FFA story in an incredible way. Technology has helped people to stay in touch with each other. Suddenly people can hold multiple conversations at the same time and basically anybody can communicate with the external world. Is this a good thing for organizations like the Texas FFA? I believe it makes communication more dynamic but also more unpredictable – we have to work together in directing the message, image and rich history we have to share. It has also stressed the importance of monitoring what is being said about our organization (our brand) and who is talking about us, or maybe not talking about us at all. This new set of influencers can modify the way the world perceives our organization, so a new task within organizational communications becomes crucial: managing all these interactions and be able to respond to them quickly and effectively. Facts confirm how overwhelmingly important social media has become, not only for us but also for businesses. Should we ignore what´s happening out there and continue business as usual? This would be a terrible mistake; organizations have to create a new type of structure, one that is social and spreads across all functions and digital delivery methods. Texas Team Ag Ed is embracing the social media revolution; 6

enabling us to grow and move forward. If you do not already have a social media account or a recognized digital footprint (the information about a particular person that exists on the internet as a result of their online activity), we need your help to be aware and engaged in using this powerful communication tool. The new MYTEXASFFA App (available in the iTunes and Google stores) puts the power of communicating Texas Team Ag Ed activities in your hands, your community’s hands and our stakeholder’s hands. Simply, using the MYTEXASFFA App allows us to tell our incredible Texas FFA story in an incredible way by leveraging the power of social media, 88-years of brand equity, and a proven history of leadership in the great State of Texas. Some people watch things happen. Some people make things happen. Other people wonder what happened? Early adopters. Late adopters. Forced Adopters. Using the latest in technology, apps and social media affords our early adopters (students) the chance to help us tell our incredible story. Leveraging the social media footprint of more than 170,000 enrolled in agricultural science education in Texas is a great way to support agricultural education, our teachers, students, sponsors and stakeholders. Get the MYTEXASFFA App and help us tell our story.

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UPDATE Texas FFA Alumni Grants and Scholarships Kelly White, Texas FFA Alumni President This article wasn’t the easiest to begin writing due to the state of our State at this time. It is not a conversation to have at the dinner table with your spouse either. Times are tough! Money is tight! No one is going to just give you money…or will they? The Texas FFA Alumni is willing to give you money. But there are strings attached. But first about the money…

The Money Each year the Texas FFA Alumni gives out the following monetary awards. These include: two $1000 scholarships; ten $500 local grants; and lastly we give $1000 each to the Texas FFA, Texas Collegiate FFA, Lifetime Alumni dues for Retiring State Officers and the VATAT. The money that we give is raised at our Annual Alumni Auction held in conjunction with the Texas FFA Convention. Items such as scales, airline tickets, boots, retreats, FFA memorabilia, outdoor items, and much more is bid on and goes home with the fortunate bidder. FFA Alumni Affiliates/Chapters also contribute to our auction by entering in the Alumni Basket Contest (rules for the contest can be found on the alumni website). What do you do to get a $500 grant? How must it be used? Be prepared to answer the following questions. What is your Project? What do you want to accomplish? What is your Plan of Action (who, what, when, where, why, how)? How will this project make an impact on your members and/or program and be prepared to have an estimate of what your project will cost.

The Catch Now you are asking how do I get the free money and what is the catch? All a FFA chapter has to do to be considered for the above mentioned awards is to have an active local FFA alumni affiliate (minimum of 10 members to pay their annual state & national dues by February 1st) and to fill out the applications and have 8

them into the Texas FFA Alumni Association by the June 1st deadline. Grants and scholarships have been denied because they did not meet the requirements or missed the deadline. Applications can be found on the Texas FFA Alumni website at www.texasffaalumni.ffanow.org. Register to get updates about the Texas FFA Alumni.

The Texas FFA Alumni is always looking for testimonials regarding the hard work that your local affiliate does for your FFA Chapter. Contact Kelly White via the website to submit your testimonials.

VATAT News

UPDATE Notes From the Executive Secretary Don Beene, Texas Young Farmers Executive Secretary This time of year livestock shows are in the Howdy From Your President history books and CDEs are quickly coming to an Robert W. Bland, Texas Young Farmers President end. That also means that it is scholarship season. We are currently reviewing all of the Texas Young On April 2, 2016 we held our first state board Farmer scholarship applications. Over the past few meeting in Gonzales, Texas, the site of the 2017 weeks I have sent out several emails and notices convention. We had great attendance with only a regarding our scholarship deadline, however we couple of state board members not present as they only received 15 applications. This is a low number had other pre-arranged obligations. Topics centered around growing our state membership, reviewing compared to our 36 applicants last year. The scholarship recipients will be recognized on and/or revising our state awards and state convention our website as well as the VATAT Newsletter. They contests, and a brief overview of activities for the will also be presented a plaque at the Texas FFA 2017 state convention. Convention in Dallas this July. I would like to thank Texas Young Farmers is proud to announce we each of you that took the time to apply. I believe have over 800 members throughout the state but that I state this each year; all of our applicants are would love to see that number grow even larger. well qualified, but we can only award five $1000 Several different objectives were identified to help scholarships and one $2000 scholarship. Hopefully us increase our membership. The first was to one day we can attract a larger attendance at our state reach out to our chapters and help them become convention and have a better scholarship auction, more involved on the state level and with our state programs. Secondly, the discussion focused on and then we could provide more scholarships. I hope you will make plans to attend the Texas ways to help bring new chapters on board and help Young Farmers Convention to be held in Gonzales, them get up and running. Thirdly, was a discussion Texas January 5 -7, 2017. The board is planning an about the implementation of a state speaking contest excellent event with terrific tours, contest, educational which will target high school seniors and college students. Winners of this contest would then have the workshops and loads of entertainment. opportunity to advance to the national competition. The state board will be working on achieving these goals for this coming year. We next turned our attention to enhancing our state awards program. The past few years have seen a decline in participation in these yearly awards. The state board formed a committee to look at enhancing, revising and maybe adding some different type of awards. The state board feels that these awards are SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS TO necessary to our membership so our members can BE ANNOUNCED SOON get the recognition they deserve. Additionally, the state board discussed reviewing 10

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the contests held at the state convention. As with the state awards, participation had seen a decline in the past few years. A committee was formed to review the rules for and the enhancement of the photo, the scrapbook, essay and basket contests. These contests are a fun way for our chapters and members, who attend the state convention, to show off their talents while helping to promote and support agriculture. Lastly, I gave a report about the various tour opportunities that Gonzales and the surrounding area has to offer. The state board listened to tour options that included: a mushroom farm, feedlot, a chicken hatchery, a chicken processing plant, Shiner brewery, feed mill, sausage plant, egg facility, a plastics company, metal fabricating company, and various historical museums. The convention planning team will be evaluating these facilities to see what they have to offer and how best to maximize our time. In all, we had a very productive and informative meeting. If any of our members have any ideas, questions, or concerns about any of our awards, contests, or state convention, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the state board or myself.

Houston Ag Mechanics Show

Photographed is Robert, Gus and Kristi (Gusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wife) Smith, and Joe Bob Taylor. These individuals and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo welcomed the Texas Young Farmers with open arms. I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to them for letting us be a part of their show.

Tilden FFA was named Grand Champion of the 2016 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Ag Mechanics Show. Texas Young Farmers were proud to present them with a $500.00 award for their accomplishments. Pictured above with the members of the Tilden FFA Ag Mech team is Robert Bland, President Texas Young Farmers; Gus Smith, Committee Chairman; Joe Bob Taylor, Officer in Charge; Jim Harris and Barry Randolph, Tilden FFA Advisors.

Photographed is Dr. Doug Kingman, Superintendent of Ag Mechanics Show. He does a tremendous job managing this huge show. We want to thank Dr. Kingman for making us feel welcome and introducing us to the staff in at HLSR.

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614 East 12th Street Austin, Texas 78701

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Upcoming Events May

June

July

1st Begin Late Swine Tag Orders

1st State Public Speaking Entry Deadline

11th All Swine Validation Materials Deadline

2nd State Officer Candidate Application Deadline

5th - 8th State Leadership Conference

11th - 15th Texas FFA Convention

8th - 10th State Degree Check

25th - 29th VATAT Professional Development Conference

10th Texas FFA Board of Directors Meeting 20th AgriScience Fair Entry Deadline

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Officers Ray Pieniazek, President

Shane Crafton, Vice President

Michael Meadows, Secretary/Treasurer

Staff Barney McClure, Executive Director

Ashley Dunkerley, Communications

Karen Jones, Membership Services