Athens FFA year in review
By Cassandra Riehle, Chloe Boneske, Carlissa Tomandl and Kaydin Streit FFA was back in full swing this year, being able to partake in all of the activities we used to be able to do prior to COVID-19.
We’ve had a fun year already and are looking forward to what the rest of the year will bring.
Activities we’ve done so far include: the Athens Area Dairy Breakfast, both the Wausau and Athens Fair, World Dairy Expo, Fall Leadership Workshop, pumpkin carving, National FFA Convention, having a Christmas party, attending Halftime Conference, and participating in Leadership Development Events or LDEs.
Coming up later this year we have Career Development Events or CDEs, the annual Northcentral Wisconsin FFA Showcase Auction, the Athens FFA plant sale, drive your tractor to school day and our annual FFA awards banquet.
Our first major event for the year, which we were all super excited to attend in person, was the National FFA Convention. The National FFA Convention was held on Oct. 26 - 29 in Indianapolis, Ind. and was attended by Cassandra Riehle, Carlissa Tomandl and Kaydin Streit.
On our way down to Indiana we stopped at Heartland Farms in Hancock, which is a family run business and owns 27,000 irrigated acres. Heartland Farms grows sweet corn, green beans, soybeans, potatoes and has a few cranberry bogs.
We were able to meet with two of the owners and discuss their production system and we got a tour of their office building, potato storage area and where they sort and clean the potatoes before they are loaded onto trucks and sent to various Frito- Lay factories. Before arriving in Indiana, we stopped at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago where we got to see various species of fish and their habitats.
On Thursday, night after we attended the opening session at convention and spent our day walking through the expo hall, we went through the Haunted Angelus House which is a haunted house whose proceeds go to various charities in Indianapolis.
During the convention we met and talked to a lot of people from various states, and spoke with various vendors and colleges in the expo hall. All of our conversations around agriculture have helped us learn more about the industry, and some of us have decided that agriculture is the field we would like to go into when we get older.
Overall, we had a great time meeting new people, and exploring the broad field of agriculture.
After the convention, the officer team worked on organizing our FFA Christmas Party and our community service project for the first semester.
We had planned to hold a drivethrough Canned Food Drive at Veterans Memorial Park in the beginning of December, but mother nature had other plans. After great consideration, we had to cancel the event due to a major snow storm.
Our Christmas party was the next item on our calendar. During our FFA Christmas party held on Dec. 15, our FFA members painted Christmas tree ornaments and made cards that were then donated to Athenian Living.
The 12 members also decorated cookies and watched a Christmas movie. Sadly, our party was cut short due to the fog but we were able to donate 30 cards and around 24 ornaments to Athenian Living.
As we rang in the new year, we looked forward to attending various leadership conferences and events. The first conference on our list was the halftime conference, which was attended by our FFA president Cassandra Riehle on January 14-15 in Stevens Point.
Cassandra was one of nearly 300 FFA members from across the state in attendance. FFA members attended various workshops which were focused on leadership and personal development, membership and chapter development and various opportunities in FFA.
FFA members learned about preparing various FFA events, which can be implemented into their home chapters and about getting involved in community service.
Cassandra had a great time meeting FFA members from other chap- ters and learned lots of new skills and ideas that she and the officer team can implement in the Athens FFA Chapter.
On Jan. 25, Cassandra Riehle, Chloe Boneske and Carlissa Tomandl competed in the District LDE Speaking Contest in Mosinee. LDE stands for Leadership Development Event where FFA members have the chance to develop the skills that they will need for their future careers like public speaking, thinking on their feet and time management.
Cassandra and Chloe competed in the Discussion Meet and Carlissa competed in Extemporaneous Public Speaking.
During a discussion meet, FFA members are to demonstrate their problem solving skills and speaking skills on agricultural related topics. In Extemporaneous Public Speaking, the student has to draw a topic, then have 30 minutes to prepare a four to six minute speech. After they then have to present in front of a panel of judges.
Out of the three that attended, Cassandra who took first place in Discussion Meet. She is the only one advancing to sectionals on March 14 in Thorp.
Logan Ebben
ATHENS FFA AT FALL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE- The Athens FFA Chapter was well represented at the Fall Leadership Conference on Oct. 5, 2021, at Spencer High School. Pictured, from left to right, are Chloe Boneske, Carlissa Tomandl, Isabella Zastrow, Cassandra Riehle and Kaydin Streit.
ATHENS FAIR PARTICIPANT- Athens FFA member Brooke Jacob shows her dairy cow at the Athens Fair in August. She was one of eight Athens FFA members who showed animals at the Athens Fair.
CHRISTMAS PARTY- Athens FFA members decorated ornaments and created Christmas cards for residents at Athenian Living. Pictured are Isabella Zastrowand Kaydin Streit.
DRIVE YOUR TRCTOR TO SCHOOL DAY- Last May, Athens FFA members and high school students were allowed to drive their tractors to school. Pictured with tractors, from left to right, are Andrew Frick and Hunter Daniels.
