The Racine Southern FFA Officer Team goes on
their Annual Officer Retreat
(Article written and submitted by: Will Smith, 2023-2024 Racine Southern FFA Reporter)
Pictured above from left to right: Katie Rowe-President; Hunter Jarrell-Sentinel, Will Smith-Reporter, Wyatt Smith-Treasurer, Nathanial Nero-Vice President and Colin Wemmer-Secretary.
June 5-9, 2023 the 23-24 Racine Southern FFA Officer Team traveled to Cumberland Falls in KY for their annual FFA Officer Retreat. On our FFA officer retreat, us officers sat down and put together some Strengths, Weaknesses, Goals, and Visions for this upcoming school year.
Visions: Increase our FFA membership by at least 6 kids. Raise a minimum total of $5,000 in fundraising activities. Get more than 6 members to become an officer for next year. Get more FFA members to attend events throughout the year. More participation in CDEs. HAVE FUN and be productive!
Goals: We will have at least 2 FFA officers in attendance at each ORP meeting along with encouraging members. We will hold meetings with our administration to get our greenhouse working properly. Give a sign up sheet and list of all CDE at the beginning of the year to see who's interested. Promoting the "fun" events while teaching them the hard work that goes along to get the fun trips. At meetings promote our favorite trips and make them become active in the meetings. At meetings do a better job of explaining upcoming events.
Strengths: We have a great support system from our administration and school board. We do a good job at raising enough funds to support our chapters' needs. We have a strong support system from our community. We do a good job of letting the public know what we have going on in our chapter throughout the year. We have good communication with our members. We have a strong officer team motivated to achieve our goals/POA.
The team then sat down to work on our Program of Activities (POA). They came up with the following list and assigned responsibilities to each officer, while meeting State and National standards for each of the three committees. After assigning to each officer, the officer will be in charge of setting goals for each and implementing them throughout the upcoming school year.
President-Katie Rowe:
Support Group (Cooperating with others to support ag ed)
Chair: Katie Rowe
Ohio River Producers
Athens/Meigs Farm Bureau
Meigs County OSU Extension
Meigs County Soil and Water Conservation
Southern Local School Board
Citizenship (Encouraging community engagement)
Chair: Katie Rowe
Southern Local Schools Angel Tree (Gift donations)
Angel Tree @ Nursing Home
Legislative Event—Attend/Host Co. Commissioner Meeting
Flags/Wreaths Removal from Graves
Luggage Bags donated for Foster Care
Christmas Tree in the Park
Stakeholder Engagement (Connecting with program stakeholders)
Chair: Katie Rowe
Attend School Board Meeting
Blue Jacket Program
FFA Week—Staff Appreciation
President-Katie Rowe and Vice President Nathaniel Nero:
Agriculture Advocacy (Promoting Ag Ed and encouraging action)
Chair: Nathanial Nero/Katie Rowe
Co-Chair: Will Smith(Helps the chair)
Newspaper Articles (Reporter/Will Smith)
Chapter Scrapbook (Reporter/Will Smith)
Annual Awards Banquet/Picnic
National Teach Agriculture Education Day
National Chapter Award Application
FFA Night--OSU Hockey/Baseball Game
Vice President-Nathaniel Nero:
Safety (Improving safety in the community and with students)
Chair: Nathanial Nero
Quality Assurance
Woodworking and Welding Safety Demonstrations
Agriculture Literacy (Promoting Ag through educating the public)
Chair: Nathanial Nero
Agriculture in the classroom (3rd grade)
Meigs Co. 4th Grade Ag Day/Farm Bureau
Pop Bottle Plants with Head Start Students
Homecoming Float
Livestock Judging Contest hosted at Meigs Fair
Scholarship (Encouraging lifelong learning)
Chair: Nathanial Nero
College tours—OSU, Hocking, Wilmington, ATI, Hobart
Ohio River Producers Scholarship
Secretary-Colin Wemmer:
Healthy Lifestyle (Improving students health)
Chair: Colin Wemmer
Ag Olympics (FFA Week Kick Off)
Softball at the Park (Open to anyone 7-12)
Personal Growth (Helping students discover their talents and achieve life goals)
Chair: Colin Wemmer
FFA Degrees
FFA Points
Discovery/Greenhand Degree/Chapter Degree Ceremonies
Treasure-Wyatt Smith:
Economic Development (Developing economic growth in the community)
Chair: Treasurer/Wyatt Smith
Co Chairs: Colin Wemmer (Co chair helps the chair with there activities)
SAE Economic Impact (Meeks)
T-Shirts (Colin Wemmer)
Strawberries (Wyatt Smith)
Gun Raffle (Ohio River Producers/Wyatt Smith)
Fruit Baskets (Colin Wemmer)
TBD--Plant Sale (Greenhouse Class)
Pop/Snack Sales (Meeks)
Career Success (Promoting student involvement in ag and careers)
Chair: Wyatt Smith
Career Development Events--Soils, Livestock, Job Interview, Creed
Trips:
National FFA Convention, Farm Science Review, Quarter Horse Congress, State FFA Convention, Deer/Turkey/Beef Expo, Farm Tours
Guest Speakers
Classroom/Meetings
Reporter-Will Smith
Environmental Activities (Promoting conservation)
Chair: Will Smith
Tire Recycling
Can/Tab Recycling Program
Human Resources (Promoting wellbeing of members and community)
Chair: Will Smith
Food Baskets
School Hydroponics System
School Greenhouse
Sentinel-Hunter Jarrell:
Chapter Recruitment (Increased student participation)
Chair: Hunter Jarrell
Letters to 8th grade parents--Spring
Free subscription to FFA New Horizon Magazine (to all new ag members)
Petting Zoo/Easter Egg Hunt
Softball at the Park (see healthy lifestyles)
Leadership (Building student leaders)
Chair: Hunter Jarrell
Public Speaking In class
Job Interview & FFA Creed Career Development Events
D10 Leadership Night
Officer Retreat
Chapter Christmas Party
After all of our planning and scheduling for the upcoming school year was finished we got to have some fun, while bonding as a team.
Monday we got to our house and went shopping for all of the stuff we would need for the rest of the time we were there. Then we went and ate and went back to our house and started our work.
Tuesday we went on a couple of hikes and saw some great views. We hiked to some beautiful waterfalls and got to enjoy Kentucky. After we went hiking we ate and then went home to finish all of our work.
Wednesday we all woke up really early and went kayaking which was really fun but by the end we were all really tired since it was a six mile kayaking trip, but we spotted some cool things while kayaking downstream like a bald eagle and some old bridges. After we got done kayaking we put on our somewhat dry clothes we had and then we went back to our house to fully dry off and put on some nice warm dry clothes. After going and eating we all went home and chilled out the rest of the day. Some of us played cornhole and others chilled out by the fire we had.
- On Thursday it was kind of cold so we voted not to go to the water park but instead go to a trampoline park. This trampoline park was pretty fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. After we got done at the trampoline park we went and ate and it was really good. We then went to an ice cream place we all ate there and it was good. When we got back to our house some of us went to the lake in front of our house. After going to the lake and coming home we had dinner and then started packing because in the morning we were leaving.
On Friday around 7:45 we started our adventure back home. We ended up stopping in Huntington for some food and then finished our journey home around 2:30. We all enjoyed our officer retreat and agreed that Corbin Kentucky was a great experience for all of us.
Feel free to follow us on Facebook at Racine Southern FFA for full details and pictures from our trip!