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Inside this issue

Goals ............................ 1

Officer Retreat ............. 2

Progress........................ 3

Horse Judging ............... 4

Alumni Membership.….5

We Want You!. . . . . . . . ..6

Parent Night . . . . . . . . . .7

Important Dates

10/2 ...Horse Judging Orientation

9/18 Parent Night

SOUTHERN HIGH

Newsletter FFA

This year, the Southern High FFA

Officer Team decided to try some-

thing new; a 5 day retreat in Deep

Creek Lake to set our goals and

themes for the upcoming year. Not

only did we set the groundwork for

the upcoming year, the team bonded

as a group and had a blast doing it!

After spending days and days in a

cabin together, we worked together

to come up with our new theme for

the year “Thank A Farmer”, inspired

by the James Wesley song appropri-

ately called “Thank a Farmer”. As a

FFA chapter, we can only do so much

at the school level, which is why we

want to work to be a bigger part of

the community and the people who

have made us who we are.

After deciding on this theme for

the year, we set goals and activities

for the chapter to work towards for

the year. We have planned activities

that not only include the chapter

members, but also the school and

community! The officers have the

plans in motion for new events, like a

school dance and school wide festi-

vals, and ways to better the events

we have had in the past years.

To better live our theme for the

year, we also set goals for the year;

some of which are improving the di-

versity of the chapter and building

relationships with the farmers in

South County, and in the state. But

don’t think the retreat was all about

work!

The officers bonded together as

a team to be better able to serve the

chapter as effective leaders. The

team members cooked every meal

together and worked together every

step of the way. It is our hopes that

after this retreat, the officer team will

be ready to serve the chapter this

year; but to do this we need the in-

volvement of the chapter members,

parents and the community. The

officers would like to thank The

Criste Family for allowing us to use

their cabin for our retreat, and Dr.

and Mrs. Rice for leading us during

the retreat

Abbey Bolander,

Southern High FFA Reporter

Volume 3 Issue 1 September 2013

Written By : Kelly Poe

Southern High Vice President

Dr. Rice

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Want to see more of our retreat?

Follow this link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkpanZ7HRvc

2013 Deep Creek

Officer Retreat

The first week of August the 2013-

2014 Officer Team went on a five day re-

treat to Oakland, MD near Deep Creek

Lake. We stayed at my grandmother’s log

cabin deep in the woods, with no cell ser-

vice, internet or television distractions.

Our focus was to plan all of this year’s ac-

tivities, pick a theme for the year, a song

that compliments the theme, to set some

goals for this year, to design a logo, to

learn our individual parts of the opening

ceremony, and to do an officer team pho-

to shoot .

In order to get all of these things

accomplished we had to first learn how

to work as a team to accomplish a goal.

Dr. Rice planned several team building

exercises that allowed us to bond and

brought us closer together. We used

these skills to shop for and prepare all of

the meals, and to clean up as a team. At

times we struggled with being able to

work together, there were arguments, but

we learned to listen to each other and

work as a team to get things done.

There was also time for some fun. On

Saturday morning we visited the local

farmers market to purchase some fresh

produce and homemade jam. We also

went to the Garret County Fair to watch

the truck and tractor pull, ride some rides

and enjoy some fair food. There was also

time for a lot of fishing and hiking on the

property. We usually ended

the long days with a soak in the hot tub

before our 11 o’clock curfew.

You know, we might have walked in

there feeling like we already knew each

other already and this was going to be

easy but we walked out a team and closer

than ever. I am thankful for the experi-

ence and hope that it has helped me to be

a better officer and leader.

Written By : Sierra Criste

Southern High FFA Secretary

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s we begin the third year

of Southern High Agricul-

tural Sciences and Southern

High FFA, I feel that it is im-

portant to reflect upon where

we started. When I first started

working at Southern High, the

agricultural sciences depart-

ment offered two classes for a

total of 23 students. There was

no FFA and no FFA jackets had

been purchased. The one thing

that did exist, was the most im-

portant ingredient for the pro-

gram to grow: community sup-

port and student interest.

Today, the agricultural sci-

ence program offers three clas-

ses, two of which are at the

honors level to a total of 81 stu-

dents. There is a 100% FFA

membership and the feeling of

FFA flows through the hallways

of the school, either on a chap-

ter t-shirt or on the back of a

blue and gold Southern High

FFA jacket. All of the students

in the FFA have a Supervised

Agriculture Experience pro-

gram (SAE) and the students

from the 2012-2013 school year

generated over $33,000 in reve-

nue from their SAEs.

One of the premier aspects

of the agricultural science pro-

gram is the development and

success of the Southern High

FFA horse judging team. The

team has been extremely active

and successful throughout the

spring and summer and will

represent Southern High and

Maryland FFA at the national

contest during the National FFA

Convention. Practices will start

in October for students inter-

ested in trying out for the 2014

team.

The involvement of parents

and community members are

important for continued growth

and success of the program and

more importantly the students.

Last year, the Southern High

FFA Alumni, Family, and

Friends was established as an

organization to provide support

to the agricultural sciences pro-

gram. Anyone can become a

member of the FFA alumni and

I strongly encourage parents of

students within the program to

become active participants in

the organization.

There will be a meeting on

September 18th at 6:30 pm in

the agricultural sciences class-

room. I would like to ask that

all parents of students enrolled

in an agricultural science class

attend. During the meeting I

will explain important aspects

of the agriculture classes and

also outline some important

dates and events that will take

place during the fall semester.

The meeting should last ap-

proximately one hour and it is

open to anyone interested in

attending.

A

Written By : Dr. Rice

Southern High FFA Advisor

Southern High Agriculture Sciences:

Past, Present, and Future

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The Maryland FFA Horse Judging Team from Southern High School has been con-tinuing to practice throughout the summer and compete at other contests in prepara-tion for the National FFA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky this October. During July the team traveled to Lake St. Louis, Missouri to compete at the National Ponies of the Americas judging contest. The contestants judged four halter classes and two perfor-mance classes, and gave two sets of reasons. The team came in second overall and earned several individual awards as well. (Full results can be viewed at www.southernhighffa.org/horsejudging).

HORSE JUDGING

The team will compete during mid-October at the All American Quarter Horse Con-

gress and the National FFA Convention in early November. Once the team competes at

the National contest the four participants can no longer compete in horse judging as

FFA members. We will begin our practices for next year’s team on October 2nd at

5:30pm. This first practice will be an orientation and any interested students are re-

quired to attend with at least one parent in order to be eligible to be on the team.

Written By: Andrea Rice, Horse Judging Coach

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Southern High FFA Alumni, Friends and Family

Who are Southern High FFA

Alumni, Friends and Family?

What is our mission?

How can you help?

~Lifetime Membership~

One-time payment of $160 ($150 National, $0 MD, $10

local chapter). Then local dues of $10 annually. Benefits

include a lifetime subscription to New Visions newslet-

ter and a lifetime subscription to the National FFA New

Horizon magazine.

~Corporate Membership~

Annual dues of $310 ( $300 National, $0 MD, and

$10 local). Benefits include being listed promi-

nently in 1 issue of the Alumni Newsletter, New

Visions news- letter, the convention program and

the National FFA Alumni web page.

__ ________

Address:____________________Cty:___________State:___Zip:_________

Membership Type:

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elcome back students, faculty and

Alumni members. I hope that your

summer was everything you wanted it to

be and that you’re prepared for what

promises to be a great year for the stu-

dents enrolled in agriculture education

courses and FFA here at Southern High

School.

For those of you who

don’t know, Southern High

School FFA Alumni is a lo-

cal chapter of an organiza-

tion with state and national

roots. We are a “booster”

type organization, whose goal it is

to advocate for agriculture educa-

tion at Southern High School and beyond,

and to support the FFA students through

gifts of time, talent and resources. You do

not have to have ever been a member of

the FFA to belong to our organization, as

the name might suggest. If you have a

student enrolled in agriculture classes, or

if you’re a community member who be-

lieves in the importance of agriculture ed-

ucation and FFA, we need you.

Please consider joining the FFA Alumni

and contributing your ideas and talents to

making this new organization all it can

and should be. We need your support in

order to strengthen and grow. Our team

efforts greatly enrich the FFA experience

for the students. Please return the at-

tached membership form today!

Our first meeting of the year will be

held in The Agricultural Sciences Class-

room (B102) at 6:30PM on Wednesday,

September 18th. Please come and hear

the goals our FFA students have for the

coming year and what role the Alumni

will play. We are currently in need of a

new treasurer and secretary. Elections

will be held at this meeting. If you

would like to serve on the Executive Com-

mittee in one of these capacities please

email me at dcriste811@aol.com. We’re

looking forward to meeting you!

We Want You! Southern High Alumni Friends & Family

Written By: Dawn Criste, Southern High Alumni President

W

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Parent Night

At this point you may be wondering to yourself what is agriculture and what

does my child have to do with it ? This is where Parent Night comes into play.

Separate from Back to School Night Parent Night is aimed towards the par-

ents of the enrolled Agriculture Students. We ask that at least one parent at-

tends the meeting, per an enrolled student. Many points will be covered dur-

ing the meeting as well as this years upcoming events and important

dates .So bring your calendars and we will hope see you there!

When? September 18th

Where? Ag Sciences Room (B102)

Time? 6:30 PM

Why? To get information on the up coming

school year plans!

Duration? 1 hour

Join Us On

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-YVupn96ObHa5OYmnHVTw?

feature=watch

https://www.facebook.com/SouthernHighFFA

Visit our website!

http://www.southernhighffa.org/

Find us on Facebook!

www.facebook.com/

SouthernHighFFA

Any Questions?