Turlock FFA: Year in Review

BY ALEXIS DIAS Chapter Reporter

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 National and 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.

This year Turlock FFA has taken advantage of any opportunity that might help teach our members about the importance of serving our community. We have worked with Jessica’s house, delivered flowers to Brendel Manor, held toy drives and worked with Can Tree at their Breakfast, held a clothes and blanket drive for the We Care Men’s Shelter, and worked the Modesto Model A Club Annual Swap Meet. We hold an annual meeting dedicated to gathering canned food to donate to those in need, which we call “Trick or Treat for Cans.” We hold this meeting around Halloween time and give our members the opportunity to dress up in Halloween costumes and go door to door asking for any canned donations, with the team with the most cans often being given a prize. This year we were able to squeeze in as many community service events as we could, and are hoping to increase to even more opportunities next year!

Turlock FFA offers a wide selection of Judging and Speaking events. These events can range from Dairy Judging, Veterinary Science, Floral Judging, Ag mechanics and Vegetable Crop Judging to Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Job interview, Creed and Opening and Closing speaking events. We also offered the newest added speaking team the Spanish Creed, and had many students compete in it. For our speaking events we had about 10 students surpass the local, and sectional level and make it to regionals. We were also able to see two of our own students attend State speaking at Fresno State. Jaden Loflin attended for Creed speaking and Amelia Bettencourt attended for Job interview, both placing in the top 24 in the state and making Turlock 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. Turlock FFA also sent the Vine Pruning team to compete in state Finals for vine pruning and had DJ Curtis place 8th high individual in the State.

We were also able to take our Judging teams to Cal Poly State Finals at the end of the Judging season. There we were able to witness some of the success of our members. Our Dairy Judging Team Placed Second High team in the state with three high individuals. From our Dairy Judging team we had Teresa Sousa placing Fourth High Individual, Madison Blount as Fifth High individual, and Jon Chapman as Sixth High individual. In Agricultural Mechanics Logan Ladd placed 6th High individual. We also had both our Vegetable Crop Judging Team and Floral Judging Teams placed Seventh High team in the state. As Fair approaches we can look back on this year's success as we get a peak of this upcoming fair. Already we have had success in Horse Showmanship with Betsy Theis as Reserve Champion High Point Western Winner, and Avery Bettencourt as English Senior Champion. We continue to take pride in the dedication and success of our members as we look forward to seeing what this year holds for our members.

Turlock FFA was able to offer many opportunities this year for students to travel to new places and to learn more about Leadership and themselves. We were able to bring thirty FFA members to Indianapolis, Indiana for the National FFA Convention and expo. There students were given the opportunity to listen to nationally acclaimed speakers, meet people from all over the country, visit booths from colleges around the country, and were able to attend workshops to learn more about leadership. While we were there we were able to tour places such as Ball Nursery, Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, and many tourist sites around Chicago. Turlock FFA members got two watch two Turlock FFA alumni, Deegan Walters and

Wyat Wool, obtain the highest degree achievable in the FFA, The American Degree. We also had students attend conferences like Made For Excellence and Advanced Leadership Academy which are conferences held for FFA members all over California. At MFE/ALA students were able to discover new leadership skills and be up close with State FFA officers to learn from their experiences as well. Our members also attended the California State FFA Convention in Ontario, California. At State, our students were able to attend workshops, meet people from around the state, listen to speakers like “Girls Eat Beef Too” and we were able to witness the new officer team be announced in the final session. Some of our members had success at the State Convention, as Logan Ladd received the California Almond Board Scholarship, and Morgan Johns placed third in Agriscience Division 3! At a separate time from the State Convention we were able to witness four- teen of our members obtain their California State FFA Degree this year. This year we were able to witness the learning and success of many of our members and we are excited to continue working towards big things year after year. Here at Turlock FFA we like to emphasize the importance of advocating for agriculture to others. One of the ways we do this on a small scale is our National FFA Week celebration. Our week was full of petting zoos, games, raffles, tractors and dress up days throughout our school to get others intrigued into learning more about agriculture. FFA week effectively brings in new members and inspires others to learn more about the industry. One of our other ways of advocating for agriculture and for the FFA is through our recruitment. We send groups of students to middle schools around the area to recruit people to be more interested in FFA. Along with this we also send some students to give career presentations at elementary schools to expose them to the importance of agriculture. We also offer tours through the school farm, where we have students at stations ready to teach elementary school students about different entry level aspects of Agriculture.

As we advocate for leadership and opportunity to our members we were able to send two members to run for Sectional Office. With Alexis Dias making the Sentinel position at a Sectional Level. Our annual Spring awards banquet is where we announce awards from the year regarding dedication, scholarship recipients, honorary members and more. This year at our Seventies Disco themed banquet we were able to honor our members and elect the new fall office team. The Fall officer Team for the 2023 school year consists of Alexis Dias as President, Lexiah Lopez as Vice president, Madison Simmons as Secretary, Katheryn Gutierrez as Treasurer, Grecia Rios as Reporter and Magali Perez as Sentinel. Spring Banquet was a night full of smiles and goodbyes as we prepared to say goodbye to the seniors, and getting ready to tie this year off with a bow.

As we review the success of this year it is important to acknowledge the dedication of our members and Teachers who have enhanced our chapter to this point, but also to reflect on how to improve it to make next year an even better year than this one was. We are continuously proud of our members and look forward to documenting their success in the year ahead of us.