FFA End of Year Banquet
The Plainview FFA Chapter held their end of the year banquet on April 28th. At this event, members and supporters are given commendation for their participation in FFA events throughout the year.
Two of the most prestigious awards given to members, the State and American degrees, were achieved by a few of the members. Nathan Choat and Caitlyn Hart earned their State degrees, which is the highest honor Nebraska can award them with. American degree recipients were Marie Demerath, Kaleb Eichberger, Cara Friedrich and Caitlyn Hall. The American degree is the highest degree a member can achieve, being awarded at the National FFA Convention in the fall.
Younger members also earned degrees for their participation in FFA. Junior High students received the Discovery degree for being involved in numerous events. This year Teagan Ziems, Keagan Mosel, Luke Pellatz, Brooklyn Kumm, Cody Gamble, Jaxson Hoffman, Lucas Wacker, and Colton Choat earned their Discovery degrees. The Greenhand degree is earned by first year high school members, which are usually freshman. This year’s recipients were Troy Donner, Brady Scott, Jaden Sobotka, Jacob Lingenfelter, Grace Hoffman, Ally Fisher, and Jesse Foster. Second year members can then earn the Chapter degree. Recipients of this degree are Jordyn Anderson, Matthew Bonta, Austin Choat, Mackenzie Eskey, Rosemary Gubbels, Matt Hoffmann, Kylee Jipp, Elizabeth Kment, Brittany Pellatz, Brittani Wacker, Tait Ziems, and Jasmine Zuhlke. At each degree level special awards called stars are also awarded to the top individual in those areas. The Star discovery winner was Colton Choat the Star Greenhand was Gace Hoffman and the Chapter stars were Matthew Bonta in Agribusines, Jordyn Anderson in Ag Placement and Austin Choat in Ag production
Even those who are not members can earn a degree. Honorary degrees are given to parents and supporters of the FFA for their loyalty to the program. This years recipients are Jeremy and Anita Hampton, Dan and Michelle Bolling, and Curt Hart.
This year our chapter had many members participate in LSEs and eight people go to state along with one group event. Nathan Choat the state champion in Natural resource speaking, Jordyn Anderson received a silver medal in coop speaking, Mackenzie Eskey received a bronze medal in extemp speaking, the Ag demo team of Elizabeth Kment, Austin Choat, and Brittany Pellatz received a gold medal at state. In the Jr High, Colton Choat and Carissa Wacker received silver medals. We also had Becca Kment, Abby Rafert, Carissa Wacker, and Sophie McGregor compete in People in Ag.
One large part of the FFA program is the students Proficiencies. The students keep records of their SAE projects and turn in a proficiency to be judged. We had 23 of our members turn in proficiencies and nine of those go to state. Of those nine we had one student, Tait Ziems, interviewed at state. Tait received 3rd place at state.
At the end of the banquet we announced the new 2016-2017 officer team. Our new Jr. Advisor is Rosemary Gubbels, the Sentinel is Cole Kuzel, the Parliamentarian is Jordyn Anderson, the Historian is Brittany Pellatz, the Treasurer is Austin Choat, the Reporter is Brittani Wacker, the Secretary is Elizabeth Kment, the Vice President is Kailee Rafert, and the new President is Brandon Pellatz. After the new officers were announced the senior officers, Nathan Choat, Caitlyn Hart, Melissa Pellatz, and Cheyenne Bolling, gave their retiring addresses.