FFA MONTHLY Volume 1, Issue 1

Mulberry Grove

FFA

April 2019

2019 Mulberry Grove Banquet The Mulberry Grove FFA Banquet was

held on April 3, 2019 at 6:00. During the

banquet, FFA Members who received

awards were announced, the Work Auc-

tion supporters were recognized, and the

new officer team was installed.

Chapter Greenhands:

Abby Brown

Maddie Edwards

Megan Miller

Peyton Simpson

Daustin Steiner

Chace Stewart

Star Greenhand:

Peyton Simpson

Chapter Degree Recipients:

Savannah Davis

Olivia Willis

Wyatt Criner

Charlie Fiscus

Mason Terry

Chapter Scholars:

Freshman: Megan Miller

Sophomore: Brooke Tompkins

Junior: Trista Koertge

Senior: Olivia Willis

Brett Schewe Memorial Scholarship:

Hannah Albert

Mulberry Grove "R" Farm Scholarship:

Hannah Albert

Savannah Davis

Congratulations to members

who received awards and

scholarships, along with the

new officer team!

STATE DAIRY JUDGING

Five members from the chapter participated in the

State Dairy Judging CDE that was held on the

Kaskaskia College campus on April 5th. Peyton, Alexis, Charlie, Brooke, and Kurtis

spent the day judging various dairy cow breed

classes.The team was ranked 25th out of 55

teams competing.

Brittney McMillin, Abby Brown, Trista Koertge, and Blake

Harnetiaux helped set up for the banquet.

Members from the chapter assisted in setting

up and taking down the Quail Forever

Banquet that was held at the American Farm

Heritage Museum at 6:00 on Thursday, April

6, 2019. The members who attended the

banquet received a donation for the chapter.

Blake Harnetiaux, Brooke Tompkins, Wyatt Criner, and Kathryn

Briner attended the banquet and helped take down afterwards.

DISTRICT PUBLIC SPEAKING

Three members from the

chapter competed at the

District IV Public

Speaking CDE in

Montivello, IL on April

10.

Each placed in the top

two competitors at the

Section 19 Public

Speaking CDE in their

repected categories in

order to move on to the

District level. Peyton

Simpson competed in

Creed Speaking, Kathryn

Criner in Junior Varsity

Prepared, and Trista

Koertge in Junior Varsity

Extemporaneous.

QUAIL FOREVER BANQUET

FIRST NATIONAL BANK COMMUNITY BREAKFAST FFA President, Wyatt Criner, and Vice President, Trista Koertge, attended the First

National Bank Community Breakfast on April 11. The two officers received a donation

from the bank and spoke about the various events and CDE’s the chapter participates in.

STATE LIVESTOCK JUDGING

Betta Miller, Hannah

Albert, Blake

Harnetiaux, Pheonix

Johnson, and Brooke

Tompkins competed at

the IL State Livestock

Judging CDE on Friday,

April 26, 2019 at the

University of Illinois

Farm. The team was

ranked 58th out of 110

teams and was the best

team out of Section 19. Pictured from L to R: Eliza Petry, State Vice President;

Bethany Milller, Hannah Albert, Blake Harnetiaux, Pheo-nix Johnson, and Brooke Tompkins

AG MECHANICS Nine students from the chapter competed in various forms

at the Section 19 Ag Mechanics CDE at the OKAW

Vocational Center on Thursday, April 25, 2019.

Four students competed on

the Junior Varsity team and

five on the Varsity team,

both teams receiving 1st

place overall. On the

Junior Varsity team,

Charlie Fiscus tied for first

individually in Ag Power,

Cheyenne Tedrick first in

Surveying, Cole Queen

first in Carpentry, and

Savannah Davis first in

Welding. On the Varsity

team, Kurtis Schewe

received third individually

in Ag Power, Hannah

Albert first in Surveying,

Jackson Isringhausen

second in Carpentry,

Mason Terry second in

Welding, and Betta Miller

first in Electricity. The

varsity team will move on

to compete at state level on

May 14, 2019 at Parkland

College.

Congratulations

and Good Luck

at State!

The journey for Alexis Kelley, Samantha Hootselle, and Brittney McMillin started in October of 2018 when Mr. Elam, the Mulberry Grove FFA advisor, told them about a contest hosted by Pioneer that involved a lot of artistic ability – something they all possess. Alexis Kelley recalls, “We all were pretty excited and motivated. We were ready to jump in and take responsibility of the project.” Excited, they teamed up to fill out the application paperwork – a rough drawing of a letter “A” with various farming scenes on it featuring Pioneer’s new A Series Soybeans, along with an essay written by Bethany Miller describing how farmers in our local community benefit by planting Pioneer Soybeans. Over Christmas Break, the group discovered they were selected as one of the top fifteen FFA Chapters in Illinois and Iowa to receive a large “A” to display their artistic abilities previewed on the rough drawing they submitted in October. “My heart started racing when I found out; we weren’t expecting it because we didn’t how many schools submitted applications,” Brittney McMillin explains. They got to work making a sketch of all the details they would include on the real “A”. The various scenes included a field sunset, growing soybeans, and an evening planting scene, along with a

grandfather and grandson on the family farm and a father and son scoping out their field. “We made sure we incorporated the many generations of farmers, just as many local farms are formed around family,” Alexis states. They also showed some of agriculture’s past, painting scenes of oxen pulling old-time farm equipment, as if the images were taken on an antique film reel.

“Big A” Challenge

Shown below is the front side of the completed “A” that

FFA Members Alexis Kelley, Samantha Hootselle, and

Brittney McMillin painted.

Then, in early February, the huge seven-foot-tall “A” arrived in the Ag Shop. Samantha Hootselle said, “I was intimidated at first by the immense size of the ‘A’ – just the thought that we had seven feet of blank canvas to cover.” They got to work and used a projector to display all of their illustrations onto the “A”. They also got into contact with the local Pioneer seed salesman, Matt Blankenship, who gave them lots of ideas and references. “We made sure to incorporate him into the 'A' because he helped us out a lot through the whole process,” Brittney explained. They included some of the field signs Blankenship provided them in one of the scenes to convey Pioneer’s importance in the community. They worked on the “A” daily, busy sketching, painting, and even gluing on

real soybeans! “It just became a part of our daily routine – we would work on it for about two hours every day.” After about two and a half months of hard work, the “A” was complete. On Thursday, May 9, the decorated “A” will be shipped to a Pioneer facility where it will be later displayed and judged at the 2019 Farm Progress Show August 27-29 in Decatur, IL. The first place winner receives $2,500 for their FFA Chapter (and bragging rights)! As our annual field trip, the chapter will be attending the Farm Progress Show for a day. •

Alexis, Sam, and Brittney sketch their designs

onto the “A” using a projector.

May 2 5th Grade

Conservation Day

Section 19 Banquet

May 8 Chapter Meeting

May 14 State Ag Mechanics

May 25 MG Cemetery Flag

Raising/Lowering

May 27 MG Cemetery Flag

Raising/Lowering

UPCOMING EVENTS

It is highly recommended

that you attend the flag

raising and lowering the

Mulberry Grove Cemetery

throughout the summer.

Along with it being a great

way to spread awareness of

our FFA Chapter, the

veterans at the American

Legion Post 1180 in

Mulberry Grove greatly

appreciate our help!

Mulberry Grove FFA Chapter

801 West Wall Street

Mulberry Grove, IL 62262

If you have any pictures or information about past

events, please Email Brooke Tompkins @

btompkins@mgschools.com.