Arcanum-MVCTC FFA First Annual FFA Banquet

03/29/2017

The Arcanum MVCTC FFA held its first annual banquet on Sunday March 26th 2017.  The banquet celebrated the accomplishments that the FFA members accumulated over the past year as well as a celebration of the return of the FFA to Arcanum.  
To begin the ceremony Alexandria Less, Sentinel, introduced and thanked all of the guest of the Arcanum MVCTC FFA.  Included in the list of guest were teachers, staff members, board members, and administration from Arcanum and MVCTC.   Members were recognized for their participation in various chapter activities and new levels of degree membership attained. 
The first sets of awards were given to members who participated in Career Development Events (CDE) this past year. The first CDE was Soil Judging with the team consisting of Jack Walters, Bailey Favorite, Trevor Osswald, Zach Smith, Cole Spitler, Austin Fourman and Carver Gostomsky.  Zach was 6th and Cole was 16th at the District Contest. The Job Interview Contestants were Sidney McAllister, Brenna Loxley, Tabitha Watern, Alexandria Less, Jacob Osswald, and Kaitlyn Zell.  Sidney, Brenna and Alexandria moved on to compete at the District Contest.  Both the Advanced and Greenhand Parliamentary Procedure Teams received gold ratings at the county contest. The advanced team consisted of Cole Spitler, Brenna Loxley, Tabitha Watern, Carver Gostomsky, Samantha McAllsiter, and Alex Weiss.  Greenhand Team consisted of Paul Barga, Dylan Burns, Sidney McAllister, Michael Quiroz, Bailey Favorite, Matthew Morgan, Cameron Warner and Luke Wilson.  The public speaker for Arcanum were Alex Weiss in Extemporaneous, Cameron Warner in Creed and Brenna Loxley in Advanced Prepared.  Brenna speech on the importance of AgriScience Education earned her a trip to the district contest.  The Farm Business Management Team Members were Jacob Osswald, Braden Garbig, Zachary Smith, Alex Weiss, Cole Spitler and Samantha McAllister.  The Farm Business Management Team placed 20th in the state and Alex was 10th overall as an individual. The final CDE’s recognized were the Spring Judging Teams: General Livestock Judging – Austin Fourman, Carver Gostomsky, Jacob Osswald, Dylan Burns and Sidney McAllister.  The General Livestock team placed 14th in the state and Sidney placed 11th overall as an individual.   Equine Management Team – Reese Whittaker, Jack Walters, Taryn Dohme, and Luke Wilson.  Diary Judging Team – Samantha McAllister, Alex Weiss, Sidney McAllister and Taryn Dohme. 

With this school year being the first year back at Arcanum, the FFA wanted to recognize the area businesses and individuals that donated to the chapter.  The following people or businesses made donations to help get the chapter rolling: Winston and Gloria Brumbaugh, Garbig & Schmidt LLC, Graves – Fearon Agency, Harvest Land CO-OP, JAFE Decorating Inc, Prairie View Farms Inc, Second National Bank, Cy Schwieterman Inc, Jed and Penny Smith, Fred and Teal Smith, Superior Implement and Supply Company, Keith Troutwine Agency, and RJ Warner Insurance Agency.  Thank-you again to those individuals and business for their generous donations.

Special Awards were also given to members that excelled throughout the past year.  Top fruit sales persons award were presented to Brenna Loxley – 3rd, Kaylee Wilcox - 2nd, Taryn Dohme - 1st.

Mr. Brian Pohlman then addressed the crowd and gave an appreciation to the Arcanum – Butler Local School and Miami Valley CTC Administration and Boards of Education that made the return of the program possible.  Mr. Pohlman then recognized the members of Ag Program’s advisory committee including: Janelle Brinksneader, Keir Smith, Brenna Loxley, Doug McAllister, Ryan Denniston and Brad Lentz.  The Chapter Advisor then presented the top awards for the evening.  First 6 members were recognized with the Leadership Award – Taryn Dohme, Hannah Rammel, Makennah Hutcheson, Marcy Bradshaw, Austin Fourman and Jack Walters.  The top members in each grade were presented with the Outstanding Member Awards.  Chapter Advisor Mr. Brian Pohlman talked about each member’s involvement and then presented him or her with a plaque commemorating his or her hard work.  They were: Freshman-Cameron Warner – Sponsored by Jason and Janelle Brinksneader Family, Sophomore-Carver Gostomsky – sponsored by Keir and Shawn Smith – Smith Farms, Junior-Samantha McAllister – sponsored by Steve Marker, and Senior-Brenna Loxley – sponsored by Jason and Janelle Brinksneader Fmaily.  The highest award for a first year members is the Star Greenhand, the awards were sponsored by Darke County 4-H Shooting Sports, Craig and Katrina Unger and Jed and Penny Smith, and this year’s winners were Sidney McAllister, Alexandria Less, and Alexander Weiss.  The Star Chapter Farmer award, sponsored by Alpha Omega Genetics and the McAllister Family, is given to the member that has excelled in a SAE that is related directly to the Farm, this year’s recipient was Cole Spitler.  The Star Chapter Ag Placement award, sponsored by Jed and Penny Smith, is given to the member that works in a placement ag area, this year’s recipient was Zach Smith.  The Star Chapter Ag Business Award, sponsored by Craig ad Katrina Smith, is given to the member that works in an ag related business, this year’s winner was Jacob 

Osswald. Chapter President Brenna Loxley was recognized and presented with a gravel to commemorate her year of service.  The final award of the night was the Honorary Chapter Degree.  This honor is bestowed on members of the school or community for their contributions to the success of the chapter.  This year’s Honorary Chapter Degree was presented to Mr. John Stephens, Superintendent of Arcanum-Butler Schools.
The ceremony was concluded with the Inductions of the 2017-2018 Arcanum MVCTC Officer Team.  President Alex Weiss, Vice-President Samantha McAllister, Secretary Alexandria Less, Treasurer Jacob Osswald, Reporter Austin Fourman, Sentinel Cole Spitler, Student Advisor – Sidney McAllister and Chaplain – Hannah Rammel. The Arcanum MVCTC FFA would like to thank everyone for their support of the chapter especially our award sponsors and donors.  


Captions

(17 Outstanding and Stars) The 2017 Arcanum MVCTC FFA Stars and Outstanding Members: (Front L to R)  Alexandria Less – Star Greenhand, Cameron Warner – Outstanding Freshman, Sidney McAllister – Star Greenhand, Brenna Loxley – Outstanding Senior, Cole Spitler – Star Farmer, (Back L to R) Jacob Osswald – Star Ag Business, Carver Gostomsky – Outstanding Sophomore, Zach Smith – Star Ag Placement, Alexander Weiss – Star Greenhand, and Samantha McAllister – Outstanding Junior.

(17 Honorary Chapter Degree) The 2017 Arcanum MVCTC Honorary Chapter Degree Recipient Mr. John Stephens with Chapter President Brenna Loxley.