Marathon FFA: A year in review
By Madison Heise This year for Marathon FFA started off with an officer retreat at the Baseman’s Family Farm. During the stay, the group was able to discuss plans for this year’s events. They were also able to bond by camping overnight, swimming in the pond, and building a campfire.
On September 22, the officers participated in a Sectional Leadership workshop hosted in Loyal. While there, the officers went to many different stations to build leadership skills and meet others from different sections.
The first club event that was held was the fall highway cleanup on October 5. After school, 14 members met up and split into two groups and each took a section of Highway NN. Once finished cleaning up the highway, the members went back to the high school for pizza and snacks after a successful afternoon.
On October 20, the club hosted Food for America. During this event the FFA members took the fourth graders to a local dairy farm and gave them a tour of the farm and daily procedures of a dairy farm. This year, the tour was at Kreager Dairy Farm, operated by Keith and Juli Kreager, and their two sons, Landon and Mavrick. The fourth graders were able to do several activities including looking at farming machinery, seeing the cows and milking facility, sampling dairy products, making ice cream, as well as learning about smaller animals that FFA members brought.
Just like in years past, the offi cer team attended the National FFA convention in Indianapolis at the end of October. The team traveled on a charter bus with students from the Wausau, Marshfield, and Pittsville FFA chapters. The trip started by stopping in Chicago to see the Shedd Aquarium. Next, the group attended the opening ceremony and walked around the convention center. A lot of time was spent at the convention center, due to Marshfield having multiple teams competing in events and competitions throughout the week. On Wednesday evening, the group went to a Lauren Alaina concert at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. In addition, they visited the Indianapolis Zoo and Beasley’s Orchard.
In December, members kicked off the 2022 Fall Fruit Sale. Everyone was excited to be able to once again sell fruit in person and build off a successful sale last year. Members were able to use a local wholesale fruit supplier and on delivery day unloaded 700 boxes of apples, oranges, grapefruit and more. As a chapter, members sold over $30,000 worth of fruit, nuts, beef sticks, and poinsettias. This was $10,000 more than the previous year.
This year many members look forward to competing in several competitions. Members will be able to compete in Leadership Development Events (LDEs) and Career Development Events (CDEs) in which members are able to build their skills and possibly advance to a state or national level.
The group looks forward to things continuing to get back to normal as they plan on doing their spring activity and the river cleanup. They start the day by splitting up on the section of Highway NN and cleaning the highway. They will also go to Lions Park, Rib River Ballroom, and Rib Falls Park to continue the clean up. The group will then bus out to the Eagles Club in Wausau for lunch and an afternoon program, where local conservationists and DNR representatives will teach about water quality and endangered species.
As the group wraps up their successful year and looks forward to the next, they are excited to continue traditions and look forward to what the future holds.
