Environmental Horticulture class is ON FIRE!

Figuratively, of course. January 23rd California FFA Association announced our chapter was one of eight chapters to receive the Food For All grant. Paso Robles FFA is Living to serve by growing, harvesting, and donating fresh produce to our school lunch programs. Through the Food For All grant we received, they will continue this project and begin educating local elementary and middle school students on the production of healthy foods. So far, members have visited local schools and done presentation, and more recently they harvested 30 pounds of fresh salad greens. All of it will go to our students. Way to go guys! 

2015 California State FFA Conference

This year's California State FFA conference was, as usual, nothing short of amazing. Every year when students come back you hear them all say the same things, it never fails. They can't stop talking about how much fun they had, the friends they made, things that they learned, and stories that left an imprint on them in turn leaving them inspired.

For those of you who may not know, State Conference is a four day leadership conference held in Fresno, California with more than 5000 members and guests in attendance. Throughout these four days, members have the opportunity to learn and grow in workshops, listen to keynote speakers and retiring addresses from State Officers, visit a career show, and MUCH MORE... Oh yeah, we can't forget a concert from Dustin Lynch! Students learn a lot crammed into these four days but they still had a blast learning how to apply the "Reach Out" theme to their own lives once they got home.


I asked a couple of attendees from PRFFA what their favorite parts of State Conference were, here's what they had to say:



"State Conference has been a great opportunity for me the past two years to meet new people from other chapters around the state of California. Most importantly, I enjoyed getting closer with the other members of my chapter." -Kara Bullard

"We had so much fun learning from Rick Riggsby, our amazing state officers, national officers and seeing all the ways we can excel in FFA. I was truly inspired by all of these kids who can make hard work pay off! Hope in humanity = Restored!!" -Sarah Brown

 "State Conference is valuable for students to participate in general sessions, educational leadership workshops, and engage in the career show!" -Mrs. Gardner

What has the Livestock Judging Team been up to lately?

The PRFFA Livestock Judging team worked hard early on in the year to insure success in the upcoming season. After countless workouts and practices in the pre-season, they quickly saw their hard work start to pay off right before their eyes. Take a look below at their accomplishments so far as the season is reaching it's end.

UC Davis Field Day 

Paso Robles FFA received 12th overall out of 49 teams. Way to kick off the season! 

Results as follows: Mikaila Brinar 13th over all, 170 reasons; Kara Bullard 23rd overall, 171 reasons, also received high individual in sheep and 10th high individual in reasons; Cody Richardson 109th overall, 160  reasons; Hailey Bowman 129th overall, 131  reasons. 

Chico State University Field Day 

The team had a great time at the Chico State Field day! Not only did they have fun competing, they also had the opportunity to do an industry tour and some sight seeing. 

Results as follows: Kara Bullard 51st overall, 163 reasons; Cody Richardson 70th overall, 149  reasons; Mikaila Brinar 103rd overall, 147 reasons; Austin Borden 151st overall, 119 in reasons; Hailey Bowman 158th overall, 144 reasons. 

Merced Jr. College Field Day 

The team laced 17th overall at the Merced Field day. Each member gave three sets of reasons each.

Results as follows: Kara Bullard 35th overall, 126 reasons; Mikaila Brinar 45th overall, 119 reasons; Cody Richardson 105th overall, 11 reasons; Austin Borden 125th overall, 99 reasons. 

Modesto Jr. College Field Day 

MJC was yet another great field day for the team. 

Results as follows: Austin Borden, 5th high individual, 4th high individual in swine, 4th high individual in beef; Kara Bullard 23rd overall; Mikaila Brinar 42nd overall; Cody Richardson 47th overall.

    

   Reedley College Field Day

The livestock Judging team placed 1st high individual at the Reedley field day! Way to go team!

Results as follows: First high team in swine; Kara Bullard 8th overall, 5th high individual in reasons, 3rd high individual in sheep; Cody Richardson 5th overall; Mikaila Brinar 19th overall.

Fresno State Field Day

Fresno was another successful field day for Paso Robles FFA! This was a fantastic kick off to California State FFA conference as well!

Results as Follows: 12th overall high team; 5th high team in reasons.

    Atascadero Invitational  

The livestock Judging team placed 4th high team overall.

Results as follows: 2nd high team in swine, 3rd high in beef, 4th high team in the test, 5th high team in reasons. Mikaila Brinar 1st high individual, 3rd high in the test, and 1st high in beef; Kara Bullard 2nd high in swine.

Greenhand Opportunities

Freshmen members are crucially important to our organization because they are the future of Agricultural Education. FFA members aren't just the future farmers, we are the future scientists, future politicians, and the future business men and women of America. The FFA has many opportunities for members to learn, advocate, and lead in our organization.

This month we will be showcasing our freshmen members at our Greenhand BBQ/meeting. We will be voting on 3D emblem displays made by students and we will have our Greenhand degree ceremony, followed by some delicious tri tip sandwiches.

But that's not all, this month there's a leadership opportunity for freshmen ONLY! It's called Greenhand Leadership Conference (GLC). GLC was designed to get freshmen excited and educate  them about the impact the FFA and Agricultural Education can have on their lives.

Specifically, at the conference students will learn about...

• Defining Agricultural Education: The three ring model (Classroom & Laboratory, Supervised Agricultural Experience and the National FFA Organization) and the three "Rs" model (Rigorous Instruction, Relevant Experiences and Relationships).
• Students will explore the Six Benefits of  Agriculture Education through hands on challenges (Learning, Experience, Leadership, Competition, Travel and Personal Growth).
• Discover the Six Benefits of Agricultural Education:  ( Instruction, SAE, Officers, CDE, Conventions and Conferences).
• Learn more about CAFFA's leadership conferences (GLC, MFE, ALA, SLE and WLC)

Check out this GLC pump up video! 

Don't forget to stay connected and get regular updates about what's going on throughout our chapter!

-Subscribe to get email updates in the top right corner of our blog! 
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paso-Robles-FFA/700451866699963
-Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube: @pasoroblesffa

Welcome Back!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! We have been in school for just over a month, but the FFA fun is just beginning. At our meeting on Wednesday September 17, 2014, we talked about some of the opportunities that our FFA chapter has to offer. Some of these opportunities include: conferences, classroom opportunities, SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experiences), CDE (Career Development Events), public speaking competitions, and community service. All of these are great ways to get involved in your community, your chapter, and your school. We encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and take advantage of every opportunity that our Ag department has to offer! Talk to your Ag Teacher to learn more about how YOU can get involved today.

 Don't forget to stay connected and get regular updates about what's going on throughout our chapter!

-Subscribe to get email updates in the top right corner of our blog! 
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paso-Robles-FFA/700451866699963
-Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube: @pasoroblesffa

2014 Banquet

On Tuesday May 20, 2014 Paso Robles FFA held our end of the year chapter banquet. We honored important supporters, hardworking students, and retired our 2013-2014 officers to install the 2014-2015 officer team. Our retired officer team consisted of; Anthony Gobea: President, Nathanael Bourgault: Vice President, Dylan Wilkinson: Treasurer, Calvin Jennings: Secretary, Kara Kester: Reporter, Matt Durian: Sentinel, Lexi Keuhl: Historian, and Alicia Avila: Parliamentarian. Four officers were re-elected; Alicia Avila: President, Kara Kester: Vice President, Nathanael Bourgault: Treasurer, and Dylan Wilkinson: Sentinel. Our new officers included Sarah Brown: Secretary, Carley Cockrum: Reporter, Kara Bullard: Historian, and Elijah Skromme: Parliamentarian. We are so excited to see what our new officer team has in store for the year ahead. Thank you to everyone who came to support our members on Tuesday!