FFA & 4H

PUBLISHER/OWNER

EDITOR DESIGN

WRITING & PHOTOGRAPHY

HANK VANDER VEEN

KRISTINA HACKER

SHARON HOFFMAN

KRISTINA HACKER

CHRISTOPHER CORREA

JULIE ROSE

Turlock High FFA: A Year in Review

Since the beginning, Turlock FFA has placed its focus on being a chapter centered around community, learning, and leadership. As we take a look back towards what this year has consisted of we can acknowledge that Turlock FFA has had visible success in obtaining that focus. We have been able to hold events such as banquets, booster dinners, and meetings. We have also been able to expand the

learning of our members on trips to State FFA conventions as well as MFE and ALA leadership conferences. Turlock FFA has been successful at numerous field days including Cal Poly State Finals, and have been able to hold community service events to better the community that supports us.

Turlock FFA offers a wide selection of Judging and Speaking events. These events can range from Dairy Judging, Veterinary Science, Floral Judging, Ag mechanics livestock, and Vegetable

Crop Judging to Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Job interview, Creed and Opening and Closing speaking events. For our speaking events we had about 6 students surpass the local, and sectional level and make it to regionals. We were also able to see one of our own students

attend State speaking in Fresno. Brenda Barragan attended for Spanish Creed placing in the top 24 in the state and making Tur-

lock FFA proud. We offer a wide selection of ways for members to get more involved in Turlock FFA no matter what your interests may be, and this year we are proud to honor the success we have had. We were also able to take our Judging teams to Cal Poly State and Fresno State Finals at the end of the Judging season. There we were able to witness some of the success of our members. Our Vegetable Crop Team Placed Second High team in the state along with are Tree judging team also placing

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Pitman High FFA puts emphasis

This 2023-2024 school year held many great events and accomplishments for Pitman FFA. Starting off, we welcomed back our old and new members with an ice cream social and a hot dog eating contest! Each month of the school year is filled with different events, community service, and FFA meetings. Our two big fundraisers we have each year is The Fall Festival and the Tri-Tip Dinner. At our Fall Festival we have games, Food vendors, arts and crafts vendors, and a petting zoo! This year be on the lookout for our fundraiser in fall of 2024.

For our community service this year we put a big emphasis on giving back to our community. We had many different meetings throughout the year. Fall community service consisted of a canned

food drive and a school supply drive that spread throughout the Turlock and Hughson communities. Our winter community service opportunities were blanket making donations to Turlock Gospel as well as Operation Christmas Child which gets distributed all over the world. We also held many meetings to write letters for the Senior Assisted living and First Responders here in Turlock! One of our last events was Love Turlock, it turned out great and we all had lots of fun improving and bringing joy to Turlock.

Our FFA events this year were big hits. We went to a bunch of different agriculture events here in California! We traveled to Tulare for the World Agriculture Exposition and up to Sacramento to the Golden One center for California's 96th

on community

Annual State Convention. We also attend two different leadership conferences, Made For Excellence and Advanced Leadership Academy, which allows our members to build their leadership abilities and bring those skills back to our FFA Chapter. Pitman FFA attends many different Leadership Development Events and Career Development events. Our LDE teams this year participated in Opening and Closing, BIG, English and Spanish Creed, Job Interview, Impromptu, Extemporaneous, and Prepared. We had two students move on to regionals, one for Job Interview and one for Spanish creed! Pitman FFAs CDE teams did amazing this year! We had Vegetable Crops, Agronomy, and Floriculture. We attend many different high schools and

colleges to compete in these competitions. Awesome job to Pitman FFAs Agronomy team that won 3rd in the State of California!

We announced all of our CDE and LDE participants in our annual Spring Banquet. We also mentioned all our outstanding pathway students as well as our 2024-2025 Chapter Officers! We highlighted donors, sponsors, and scholarship providers and recipients. This school year was an amazing success and follow along for our upcoming events in the 2024-2025 school year, through our social media. Instagram: PitmanFFA02 Facebook: Pitman FFA.

Be sure to check us out at the 2024 Stanislaus County Fair.

More Pitman photos on page 8

Turlock Christian FFA celebrates 12 years of ag leadership

Turlock Christian FFA was founded as the first FFA chapter at a private school in 2012, which embarked on allowing students attending private schools to be active FFA members within the National FFA Organization within the state of California. As we celebrate our 12th anniversary as an FFA chapter and agriculture program at Turlock Christian, we share an immense gratitude for the community leaders that have supported the development of opportunities for students to experience all facets of agricultural education. It is through the efforts of many, that Turlock Christian FFA is able to have been a transformative home to over hundreds of FFA members that have gained premier leadership, personal growth, and career success within agricultural education.

This past school year, our student officer team was committed for this year to be excellent and impactful to all members within our chapter. The theme that they chose to align this vision with was “All In,” as an encouraging stride to push all Turlock Christian FFA members to be all in with the opportunities and experiences that they are fortunate to access and strive for success within these treasured moments. It has been apparent that this school year, numerous FFA members made this vision tangible with demonstrated commitment to excellence and perseverance for success.

In November 2023, Ian McFarlane, an alumni member of the Turlock Christian FFA chapter was awarded the American FFA Degree at the 96th National FFA Convention & Expo. This award was sponsored by Cargill, Case IH, Elanco Animal Health, and Syngenta, which recognizes demonstrated ability and

outstanding achievements in agricultural business, production, processing, or service programs. To be eligible for this recognition, FFA members must have earned at least $10,000 or earned at least $2,000 and worked at least 2,250 hours outside of class time through a supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program in which they own their

own business, hold a professional position as an employee, or conduct research. Recipients must also complete 50 hours of 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.

We are honored to have Ian McFarlane added as the 5th Turlock Christian FFA member to receive this national award. Turlock Christian FFA was able to offer students 6 different Career Development Events (CDE), which are competitive teams that challenge students to develop critical thinking skills and

effective decision-making skills, foster teamwork and promote communication while recognizing the value of ethical competition and individual achievement. These CDE teams occur at the local, state, and national level. These teams include the California Water Team, Best Informed Greenhand Team, Agriculture Mechanics Team, Cooperative Marketing Team, Dairy Evaluation Judging Team, and Agriscience Team. Collectively, 20 FFA members were able to travel to different universities, grow their agricultural skills and experience, and compete against hundreds of different FFA chapters in the state. Notable successes include, the Turlock Christian FFA Dairy Evaluation Team placing 2nd High Team overall in the state, which included Norah Schell, Geneve York, Elizabeth Woodill, and Jake Dein. Norah Schell being awarded 3rd High Individual. Additionally, the Turlock Christian FFA California Water Team placed 6th High Team in the state, which included Will Kelley, Ty Kelley, Cam Kelley, and Ben Bylsma. Finally, within the Agriscience Contest, Geneve York and Michelle Ha were recognized as State Finalists within their respective divisions for their agricultural research. Geneve York’s project consisted of determining proper ultraviolet radiation exposure for floral growth and Michelle Ha’s project focused on determining the comparison of short stature versus long stature corn varieties. We are proud of their accomplishments and developing career applicable skills during this school year.

Turlock Christian FFA has made a remarkable stride in having members accessing unique leadership opportunities within the California FFA Association. Ben Bylsma, retired president of the Turlock Christian FFA Chapter and the Tri Rivers FFA Section, was selected to serve as a National FFA Delegate to represent the California FFA Association at the National FFA Convention. Ben and selected students from around the state were able to represent and be an active voice for the association's values and growing membership within the state. Ben Bylsma and John Dein, retired Turlock Christian FFA treasurer, were also fortunate to attend the Sacramento Leadership Experience (SLE) conference, facilitated by the California FFA Association. SLE is missioned to allow

the top senior FFA members of the state the opportunity to get a closer discovery of leadership and advocacy for agriculture within our state government. Within this experience, students are able to take on the role of mock legislators and get a firsthand opportunity to see how effective change can be delivered through legislation and lobbying efforts. This opportunity was only offered to a handful of senior FFA members of the state, and we are grateful that two of our own were selected to partake in this influential learning experience.

We are encouraged with leadership on the rise as we recently elected our new FFA officer team for the 2024-2025 school year, which was announced at our annual FFA banquet. The team includes:

- Geneve York, Senior - President

- Julia Lee, Junior - Vice President

- Michelle Ha, Junior - Secretary

- Trent Watje, Sophomore – Treasurer

- Hannah Baba, Sophomore - Reporter

- Max Salas, Sophomore - Sentinel

- Jake Dein, Junior – Chaplain

We look towards more incredible leadership and direction from this team to further develop our chapter and be an influence to the members of Turlock Christian FFA. Additionally, we are proud to share that Julia Lee will not only be serving our chapter as an officer, but also the Tri Rivers FFA Section as the newly elected Reporter. Additionally, FFA leadership for our graduates will not be retired for all this coming upcoming school year. John Dein, a Turlock Christian FFA chapter member, has etched his name in history. At the 96th California FFA State Conference on March 24, 2024, he was elected as the 2024-2025 California FFA State VicePresident. This is a significant milestone, as it's the first time a State FFA Officer has been chosen from Turlock Christian High School. John Dein and his five teammates have a unique and significant role ahead of them. They will serve as representatives and leaders of over 105,000 FFA members in California for the following year.

This is not just a leadership opportunity but a chance to make a real difference in student's lives and the field of agriculture education

on a state level.

John Dein expressed his excitement, stating, “I am just so honored to have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create meaningful connections with each and every valuable member within the great California FFA Organization.”

John Dein will start his year of service after graduation. We are incredibly honored to have one of our fellow eagles soar within this leadership role and know that he will continue to serve as a testament of servant leadership.

Turlock Christian FFA will also have 6 members getting prepared to show their livestock projects at the Stanislaus County Fair this upcoming July. These students include; Norah Schell (Beef), Jake Dein (Chickens), Trent Watje (Swine), Hunter Clawson (Swine), Elizabeth Woodill (Swine), and John Dein (Swine). Each of these students have cared for their market animals for the past few months, providing optimal feeding, care, exercise and more for the sake of producing quality projects to show at fairs and meat for consumers. If you are interested in supporting these students, we welcome all to visit them during the fair and on July 13

for the general auction for some quality protein for their freezers.

Overall, Turlock Christian FFA has been blessed to continue providing 7th12th students at Turlock Christian the opportunity to engage in agricultural education, at the local to national level. We are excited to see how students continue to go all in for FFA and how they advance their own learning in the process this next school year. We thank the community for their efforts and support in sharing this vision and supporting our entire chapter.

If you are interested in helping support the students of Turlock Christian FFA, we encourage you to follow our chapter on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with our activity and community events. This August, we ask that you consider joining us for our 3rd Annual Food Trucks on the Farm to attend and directly contribute to our program's success. There will be more details and information provided on our media platforms.

Celebrate National Dairy Month

This June, make sure to celebrate National Dairy Month. Originally established as a grocery/milk promotion in 1937, National Dairy Month now acts as a reminder of the health benefits that dairy products provide. They contain essential nutrients — including calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein. They also reduce the risk of high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and certain cancers.

Milk was California’s top agricultural commodity in 2022, bringing in $10.4 billion. It was also the No. 1 ag commod-

ity for Stanislaus County in 2022. Milk had been the county’s top commodity until 2013, when almonds took over and remained number one until 2022.

The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is funded by the state’s dairy farm families who lead the nation in sustainable dairy farming practices. With a vision to nourish the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk, the CMAB’s programs focus on increasing demand for California’s sustainable dairy products in the state, across the U.S. and around the world through advertising, public relations, research, and retail and foodservice promotional programs. For more information and to connect with the CMAB, visit RealCaliforniaMilk.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

1. Got milk?

Milk is the only food that you can survive on alone. It has every nutrient you need.

2. The world loves milk

The world's population consumes over 2.1 billion liters every day. That’s enough to fill up 813 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

3. Cows have friends

Dairy cows are social animals. Like people, they will make friends and bond with some, while avoiding others.

4. Cows can produce a ton of milk

A cow turns grass into milk within two to three days. Depending on the breed, a cow can make between 25 and 40 liters of milk per day.

FUN FACTS ABOUT MILK

4 H is delivered by Cooperative Extension—a community of more than 100 public universities across the nation that provides experiences where young people learn by doing. Kids complete hands-on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture and citizenship, in a positive environment where they receive guidance from adult mentors and are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles. Kids experience 4 H in every county and parish in the country—through in-school and after-school programs, school and community clubs and 4 H camps.

The Stanislaus County 4-H program is operated by the University of California Cooperative Extension. Information on local clubs can be found at: http://ucanr.edu/sites/Stanislaus4-H/

4 H Pledge

I pledge my head to clearer thinking, My heart to greater loyalty, My hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.

• When outdoors, use EPA registered repellents like DEET, Picaridin or IR3535

• Make sure windows and doors have tight fitting screens

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Yellow Fever Mosquito