Inside this issue:

BASIC Continued 2-3

Remind 101 4

Officer Message 4

Livestock Judging 5

CDEs 6

FFA At The Fair 7-8

Corn Maze Trip 8

Georgia National Fair Cattle Show

9-10

Corn Maze Permission From

11

October 2015 Volume 4, Issue 4

Newsletter FFA members from the West Jackson Middle FFA chapter attended BASIC Training at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center in Covington, GA on September 23rd. WJMS FFA members were joined by East Jackson Middle FFA members for this leadership based field trip. BASIC stands for Building and Achieving Success in Chapters and is a program available through the FFA center and is coordinated by Educational Program Specialist, Leroy Bagley. BASIC is designed to teach leadership and team build-ing skills to students in an exciting hands-on learning environment.

The FFA members enjoyed the high ropes course, in-cluding the rock wall and zip line, and the mud obsta-

cle course. FFA members WJMS worked with each other and the EJMS members to chal-lenge themselves and learn to work together as a team.

WJMS FFA members

attending this event

included Tiffany

Holly, Ella Harde-

gree, Michael How-

ard, Sydney Wiggins,

West Jackson Middle FFA members participate in BASIC Training

Robbie Miglionico, Kayla Driskell, Alys-

sa Bradley, Melody Bray, Wyatt Wal-

lace, Savannah McGee, and Caleb Frey.

Continued on page 2

West Jackson Middle FFA

Page 2 Newsletter

Check out some highlights from our trip to BASIC Training!

BASIC Training continued

Page 3 Volume 4, Issue 4

Page 4 Newsletter

Hello! My name is Hannah White, and I am your 2015-2016 FFA Vice President. Agriculture has been the light of my life for some years now, and I hope that it is the same for you!

From being ranked 2nd in the na-tion and being compet-itive in some Career Development Events, we have worked hard to get West Jackson Middle’s name out there!

FFA has some-thing for everybody! From Floral Design to Floriculture, Livestock and Horse Judging to showing livestock, Creed Speaking and

October Officer’s Message: Hannah White

other leadership events, and anything in between, there are many different possibilities for students to get involved.

This month is super busy for FFA, and two big events that we have are the Georgia National Fair and the National FFA Convention. We have students that are competing in Floral Design, Flori-culture ID Contest, and Minibooth competitions at the Georgia National Fair. We also will be compet-ing once again for the title of Outstanding Middle School Chapter at the National FFA Convention.

I hope that you have enjoyed the beginning of the year, and I hope that you will get involved in and enjoy the activities and trips we have planned for the rest of the year! If you are interested in par-ticipating in an FFA event, stop by the Ag room (503) and check out the CDE wall. Talk with Mrs. Davis for more information.

Page 5 Volume 4, Issue 4

Thirteen Jackson County FFA members participat-ed in the Southeast Empire Livestock Judging Con-test at the Gwinnett County Fair on Monday, Sep-tember 21, 2015. FFA members competing in this event included Katie Sosebee of Jackson County High FFA; Tanner Hart, Austin Hill, Wyatt Chan-dler, and Katie Weigand from East Jackson High FFA; Sabrina Livingston, Bella Chandler, Cale How-ington, and Makayla Gooch of East Jackson Middle FFA; Charlie Brooksher, Madyson McDaniel, Savan-nah Page, and Hannah White from West Jackson Middle FFA.

All of the Jackson County teams were competing against each other as well as multiple other FFA chapters from across state. Students were required to judge classes of breeding heifers, breeding ewes, market lambs, and market hogs. These students were also required to take notes and give a set of oral reasons to a judge, and the students were eval-uated on the correctness of their reasons as well as their overall presentation.

Students were scored individually and their scores were added together for their over-all team score. It was a clean sweep for the Jackson County teams with East Jackson Middle FFA placing third, East Jackson High FFA came in second, and West Jackson Middle FFA took home first place honors. Additionally, East Jackson High FFA member Katie Weigand was named first place individual of the contest, and Jackson County High FFA mem-ber Katie Sosebee was named third place individual.

Over the past two months these FFA members have worked hard to learn about evaluating livestock, and they have been fortunate to visit many farms in the county to practice up to this point. The Southeast Empire Livestock Judging Contest was the first test for these livestock judgers, and it was a great accom-plishment for everyone!

West Jackson Middle FFA members Attend Livestock Judging Fair

Members of the East Jackson High, East Jackson Middle, Jack-son County High, and West Jackson Middle FFA chapters

competed at the Southeast Empire Livestock Judging Contest at the Gwinnett County Fair.

The West Jackson Middle FFA Livestock Judging Team came in first placed in the Southeast Empire Livestock Judging Contest held at the Gwinnett County Fair on September 21st. WJMS FFA

team members include Charlie Brooksher, Savannah Page, Hannah White, and Madyson McDaniel.

Page 6 Newsletter

Four members of the West Jackson Middle School FFA chapter competed in the Area II Meats Judging-Career Development Events on September 24th at Oconee County High School. Parker Garrison, Sa-vannah McGee, and Katelyn Steinbauer all took part in this FFA contest, and this was the first time any of them had competed in an event. For the Meats Judging CDE, FFA members are re-quired to learn to identify 50 different cuts of meat and learn how to judge classes of meat products. At the contest, FFA members were given 20 different cuts to identify and had three placing classes. They competed against both middle school and ninth grade teams, and the WJMS FFA team placed seventh in the contest. In addition, Savannah McGee was the high individual on the team, and she placed sixth individually.

WJMS FFA Members Compete for First Time

Two members of the West Jackson Middle School FFA chapter competed in the Area II FFA Career De-velopment Events on October 1st at East Jackson Comprehensive High School. Jesse Womble compet-ed in the FFA Quiz Career Development Event (CDE). She was required to answer a 50-question test about FFA events and history. Savannah Van Buren competed in the Floral Design CDE. She was required to construct one body flower and one bud vase based on two different scenarios with the flowers and materials provided for her. Forty middle school and ninth grade FFA members competed in the Area II Floral Design CDE, and Sa-vannah placed 13th overall. Both members represented the WJMS FFA chapter well and look forward to competing in other FFA events in the future. Any FFA member interested in competing in a Career Development Event or be-coming more involved in WJMS should get in con-tact with Mrs. April Davis or any WJMS FFA officer.

WJMS FFA Members Compete in Area CDEs

Page 7 Newsletter

WJMS FFA Members Attend FFA Day at the Fair

By: Ashlyn Tomlin, West Jackson Middle FFA Reporter

Members of the West Jackson Middle FFA Chapter were a part of the more than 2,100 FFA members that recent-ly attended the 2015 FFA Day at the Georgia National Fair. The event was held on October 13th at the Georgia National Fair-grounds in Perry. West Jackson Middle FFA members attending FFA Day at the Fair were Mi-chael Howard, Katelyn Howard, Whitney Hulsey, Ian McClure, Jay Dailey, Ella Hardegree, Hailey Sawyer, Emmalee Holder, Cheyenne Stewart, Gracen Dutton, Harley Martin, Madyson McDaniel, Garret Bryson, Kayla Driskell, Hannah White, Savannah Van Buren, Cassie Jones, Ashlyn Tomlin, Noel Plun-kett, Gracie Alldredge, Lauren Segraves, Eliza-beth Garmon.

The FFA Day at the Fair program is designed for stu-dents in grades 6-9 to learn more and get excited about FFA and agricultural education. Throughout the day’s events, students interact with Georgia FFA Area Officers while discov-ering the opportunities FFA of-fers. Students hear from sup-porters of the agricultural edu-

cation program, listen to a moti-vational speaker, and enjoy the Georgia National Fair’s midway in the afternoon.

West Jackson Middle FFA members were invited to attend the FFA Day at the Fair event as a reward for competing in an event during the Georgia Nation-al Fair. Before the fair began, Hannah White, Whitney Hulsey, Cheyenne Stewart, Michael Howard, Jay Dailey, Emmalee Holder, Lauren Seagraves, and Elizabeth Garmon all completed minibooths. Minibooths are in-

formational booths and can be related to a topic in forestry/natural resources or horticul-ture. This was the first time that any of these members had com-pleted minibooths, and they all earned first place! Also prior to the fair, Gracie Alldredge, Hailey Sawyer, and Ella Hardegree completed silk floral designs.

While at the Fair, Cassie Jones competed in the Floral De-sign competition while Ashlyn Tomlin, Noel Plunkett, Gracen Dutton, Harley Martin, and Kate-lyn Howard all competed in the Floriculture competition. The theme for the Floral Design com-petition was “Famous for Fun” and participants were required to bring their own materials, de-velop a design of their choosing, fill out a price sheet for those materials, and create their de-signs within the allotted time of 30 minutes. The Floriculture competition involved FFA mem-

bers learning more than fifty different spe-cies of common plants and being able to iden-tify twenty-five of those specimens at the con-test. Gracen Dutton was the high individual for the Floriculture team and had this to say about the fair, “First we went to go compete at the Floriculture CDE which was both fun, yet nerve-racking. I had a lot of fun at the fair and

will definitely be going again next year!”

Page 8 Newsletter

The October FFA Meeting will be held on Friday, October 23rd. The Chapter meeting will begin afterschool, and at 4:30, we will leave for our trip to the corn maze!

In order to attend this FFA meeting, you must sign up with a permission form and $15 by October 21st. Only the first 15 FFA members to sign up will be able to attend, so stop by the Ag Room to get a form!

What: October FFA Meeting & Corn Maze Trip

When: Friday, October 23rd

Time: FFA Meeting will be immediate-ly after school, and we will leave WJMS by 5:00 to travel to the corn maze. We will return to WJMS at 9:45PM.

Where: Washington Farms in Wat-kinsville, Ga

Who: Only the first 15 FFA members will be allowed to attend

Cost: $15 covers dinner, corn maze, hayride, and farm activities. They may also bring money to purchase pump-kins, sunflowers, and concessions are available.

October FFA Meeting: Corn Maze Trip

Page 9 Newsletter

The Georgia National Fair Steer and Heifer Shows were held on October 8th-10th at the Georgia Nation-al Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia. During this annual event, Jackson County 4-H and FFA members exhib-ited livestock projects and earned many accom-plishments. Successes in the show ring started with showmanship on Friday. Jackson County 4H mem-ber Keely Shultz placed second in Fourth Grade Showmanship, and Morgan McDan-iel won Fifth Grade Showmanship. West Jackson Middle FFA member Savannah Page won Sixth Grade Showmanship, and Bella Chandler of East Jackson Middle placed sec-ond. West Jackson Middle FFA members Madyson McDaniel and Charlie Brooksher competed in Seventh Grade Showmanship and placed second and eleventh, re-spectively. In Eighth Grade Show-manship, West Jackson Middle FFA member Abigail Allen placed fourth, and East Jackson FFA mem-ber Wyatt Chandler placed third in the Ninth Grade division. We ended the day with Senior Showmanship where Jackson County FFA mem-ber, Cindy Cooper, placed fourth and Jackson Schieszer of East Jack-son FFA placed twelfth.

The Heifer Show took place on Saturday and start-ed with Cindy Cooper and Madyson McDaniel plac-ing 1st and 6th in their Simmental classes. Cindy went on to be chosen as Grand Champion of the breed. In the Maine division, Landis Seagraves of Jackson County 4H placed second in class. Jackson Schieszer placing second with his Shorthorn heifer, and Austin Hill placed first with his Beefmaster heifer in the All Other Breeds division. In the Per-centage Simmental Breed classes, West Jackson Middle FFA member, Charlie Brooksher placed fifth while his brother Drew placed sixth. Morgan McDaniel and Cindy Cooper both won their classes while Bella Chandler of East Jackson Middle FFA placed second in class. Cindy Cooper went on to be chosen as Grand Champion while Bella Chandler was chosen for Reserve Champion honors. Keely Shultz placed first with her Limousin while Jackson Schieszer placed second, and Keely’s heifer, Bri,

Jackson County Livestock Show Team Earns Many Awards at the Georgia National Fair

went on to be chosen as Grand Champion of the breed. In the Angus breed classes, Cindy Cooper, Abigail Allen, and Peyton Puckett all placed second in their classes. Savannah Page had two class win-ners, and they both went on to be chosen as Grand and Reserve Champion of the breed. In the Com-mercial heifer classes, Heidi Seagraves and Wyatt Chandler both placed third in their classes and Car-

son Jackson placed fifth.

And finally, as if four Grand Champions and two Reserve Champions weren’t enough, Cindy Cooper’s Percentage Simmental heifer went on to be chosen as Reserve Supreme Champion Heifer, Bella Chandler’s Percentage Simmental was chosen as Third Overall, and Cindy Cooper’s Simmental heifer was chosen as Fourth Overall.

The Jackson County Showteam also excelled in oth-er areas of the show as well. The showteam com-peted in the County Group of Five competition and was chosen as champion. Also, a group of three heifers raised by C & C Farms was chosen as cham-pion of the Breeder’s Group award. Just before the championship drive, the Georgia Junior Livestock Foundation presented showmanship awards to the Top 5 individuals. These showmen earned points through the past show season for their placings in showmanship classes throughout the year. Out of

Georgia National Fair continued.

more than 100 entries, Jackson County had three students in the top five in the Junior Beef division. Savannah Page of West Jackson Middle was fourth overall, Gum Springs fifth grader Morgan McDaniel was second overall, and West Jackson Mid-dle’s Madyson McDaniel was first overall in this division.

Jackson County had a great weekend of

student successes and memories made,

and we are all looking forward to the next

one!

West Jackson Middle FFA

West Jackson Middle School

400 Gum Springs Church Rd

Jefferson, GA 30549

Phone: 706-654-2775

Extension: 503

E-mail: adavis@jackson.k12.ga.us

Website: wjmsffa.wix.com/wjmsffa

PERMISSION SLIPPERMISSION SLIP

West Jackson Middle School West Jackson Middle School 400 Gum Springs Church Road

Jefferson, GA 30549

(706) 654-2775

www.jackson.k12.ga.us/wjm

Place To Visit: Washington Farms in Watkinsville, GA

Dates of Trip: Friday, October 23, 2015

Time of Departure: 4:00 p.m. from West Jackson Middle School, students may stay after school in their advisor’s room until departure

Time of Return: 9:45 p.m. to West Jackson Middle School

Cost of Trip: $15.00 - This covers dinner, the admission for the corn maze, hayride, and farm activities. They may also bring money to purchase pumpkins or sunflowers. Wash-ington Farms does have a concession stand available.

Transportation: Bus

Approximate Mileage: 46 miles round trip

Sponsoring Teachers: FBLA Advisor – Erin King

FCCLA Advisor - Kathy Jones

FFA Advisor - April Davis

Think About This… Students should wear school appropriate attire. Tennis shoes or boots are recom-mended! If the weather is chilly, dress warm! BRING A FLASHLIGHT! We are participating in the Dark Maze which means…everything is in the dark!

If you give permission for your child to participate in this trip, please sign below and complete the other infor-mation as it pertains. Regardless of the precautions taken by sponsors and school authorities to assure student safety, accidents will occur. Therefore parents are encouraged to assure that their children are properly insured.

“I also do hereby, on behalf of named student, absolve and release school officials and teacher from any claims for personal injuries which might be sustained while he/she is present during the trip.”

Students Name: __________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Name: (Print) _______________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian Signature: __________________________________________________________________________

Emergency Contact Phone #: _____________________________________________________